Demigod of Mischief
by Isilithix
Summary: Debts and payments. These are my deeds. You scratch my back and by the law of my people, I have to scratch yours. Oh, what's this? A giant demon in one of my favorite places to spread mischief around in? Well, if they're screwed, I may as well get a front row seat! Popcorn, soft drink, lawn chair all ready to go-Eh who the hell threw a kunai at me?
1. Chapter 1

Demi-God of Mischief

* * *

This idea came about in a rather...odd way. See, I was watching my niece and youngest nephew the other day and my youngest nephew decided that he wanted to watch _Peter Pan_. I obliged him, mainly because I didn't want to deal with fresh three year old screams for the rest of the evening.

It's been a long time since I watched that movie, and it's not because I dislike Disney. No. It's because for a long time, I didn't have it; so therefore, I didn't watch it. Funny how that works, huh? Well, to move a long; I was lying on the couch while watching it along with them.

I think the very first thing that made my mind secrete the idea that this is going to be; was the scene where Peter Pan invades the Darlings' house in a quest to retrieve his shadow that Nana(the dog) caught and that Wendy later locked in a dresser drawer. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I figured this: I could probably do something with that...Yeah...What's a better way to trying to get back into FanFiction than dragging up a new kind of story? (I'm still working on my other stories, it's just going to take some time to get the feel for them again).

The second thing that made me go "Yep. Going to do it." was reading a story where Loki(from Marvel) is reformed and sets his brother-who used to be James Potter-with his son after an event at school(not giving it away, hehe) and thought to myself. Loki, mischief and the like...Well, I don't know much about Marvel comics or characters, so I'm not going to use Loki. But I will use a combination of the Daedric entities from Skyrim(which I have not played, because my laptop sucks and I don't have a console) and Puck, from Gargolyes.(Yes, I know that the Daedric are most commonly elf like beings with no gender; but this is a base slate for Naruto's looks and abilities; nothing more than that...Well, not too much more...)

Naruto, a young half-elf half-Daedric prince(demi-god) of mischief running around the streets of Konoha looking for his shadow and runs into the most exciting night of his life-the Kyuubi's assault-and decides to stick around to watch the show; popcorn included.

Now, Naruto is no stranger to Konohagakure, just not in his true form; and has met and dealt with several people from said village, primarily Jiraya-whom he pranks and rats on when he's spying on women-and Minato, who helped him find his shadow once. Because of that, Naruto owes him a favor; one that Minato forgets until he sees him watching the even from floating lawn chair.

A demi-god of mischief wouldn't normally care about humans, but this rendition of demi-god of mischief has a soft spot of babies and kids. Mainly because they're easy to prank or to get to prank others. Agreeing to help Minato deal with the Kyuubi, as payment for the debt he owes him, Naruto helps seal the Kyuubi within Minato's twins by dealing with Madara-Obito(can anyone say Wabbajack?) Unfortunately, because he helps the man in more ways than one, and because Minato dies after sealing the Kyuubi(dark in one twin, light in the other) while Kushina perishes due to an injury similar to the Kyuubi's claw, but not quite the same; the man's debt is passed down to his twin children.

Naruto, being much like Puck form Gargoyles; sticks around to watch over them until they are an age where they can be of use to him.

Naruto's shadow still finds time to leave him, sending him on goose chases through Konoha as well as other villages.

* * *

Chapter One

-o-

The smell of burning wood and roasting corpses filled the air as a lithe figure with long blonde hair, pointed ears and one glimmering purple eye accompanied by a dark glowing orange eye stared out at the destruction and chaos that someone, a long lived human by the looks of it; had managed to unleash upon the village below. With a small shrug accompanied by a disappointed sigh that left a pair of thin lips, the lithe figure that floated on the winds of death and destruction began to float silently through the air as they watched dozens of people, young and old alike running from four large, crimson paws with large, wicked black claws that separated buildings and sheared those who were either too slow to get away from them as they fell upon or swung through them, in twain.

Mismatched eyes trailed across the ground, over the ruins of the village below him and found nine, titanic crimson colored tails waving back and forth through the air; visibly searing the sky around them as tendrils of fire jumped and leaped from each tail to anything around them-like the luscious trees of the dense forest around it-setting them aflame; turning them to ash in a matter of moments. A gigantic maw of death and destruction; two rows of absurdly sharp fangs snapped open and shut as the beast barked ungodly loud barks of nothing but death wishes. Whatever beast this was; it was obviously infuriated and it's only goal seemed to be the eradication of the village it attacked.

As he floated over the battlefield, the lithe figure noticed a small group of humans running and jumping across rooftops, heading directly for the titanic beast. None of them seemed to be of any importance-not that it would matter to him, but one of them seemed to be calling out orders if the way the other men darted away from him, heading off in directions to where he pointed. Was he a leader of some sort? _'No.'_ The figure thought. _'Minato is the leader. Not some old, gray haired monkey.'_ He hadn't been away from one of his favorite playgrounds long enough for Minato to turn from a teenager into an old man wielding a large staff; had he? Human time was so finicky for him. Then again, after the first five centuries of one's life, time did seem to just...meld together.

With a non-committal shrug, the floating being paused in his actions and looked around the area once more. There was no way the humans were going to win this fight. Whatever they had done to piss this monstrous beast off, they were going to pay for it. _'I guess the only thing left to do is sit back and watch the show.'_ With a flick of a hand, a small, dark vortex opened up beside him. Reaching into the vortex, a slender arm retrieved a metal framed, plastic band covered lawn chair. Knocking it open with a practiced flick of his wrist, the blonde entity set it in mid-air as he hoped onto it. Reaching into the vortex once more, this time with both arms, he withdrew a large tub of popcorn and a large drink; complete with a tiny, bent, white plastic straw. Once settled with snack and drink in hand, the vortex simply ceased to be, leaving the floating figure high above the village, getting ready to enjoy the curtain call for a large village of humans. _'I can see why my cousins love fooling around with humans so much.'_ The being thought to himself as he popped several kernels of corn into his mouth; small fangs piercing through the soft, white flesh of the heated treat. _'They sure do know how fuck themselves over!'_ With a large grin of satisfaction sitting on his lips, the floating figure made to move his drink toward his lips, when a small, black metallic blur pierced through his fountain drink. The plastic cup exploded in a shower of dark liquid, spilling all over the floating being; leaving him a sticky, smelly mess.

Mismatched eyes narrowed in anger as tassels of blonde hair began to float ominously around him as the world seemed to catch up with him. Someone, somewhere; had spotted him, floating on his chair; and had decided that hurling a human weapon at him was a grand idea.

Somebody had a death wish, and unlike the gigantic beast in the distance; who would have crushed them, eaten them or burnt them to a crisp within seconds, his vengeance would not be easily slated.

Standing up, the blonde entity waved his arms and his lawn chair and popcorn vanished in a swirl of black and orange. Whirling around to where the weapon had come from, orange and purple eyes narrowed in at the sight of two humans attacking each other at speeds that nearly matched his own. _'What do you know...Space travel...Not in the same way that Mother would have thought them to achieve if they ever stopped slaughtering each other; but still, teleportation is still a form of space travel. Mixed with time travel, of course; but still, close enough...'_ Whomever they were, they had wrought the wrath of a god. A demi-god, but a god nonetheless...

Without another second wasted, the being slipped back into the veil that would hide him from the view of mortal men and women; and with a burst of chaotic energy; sped forth toward the two fighting humans.

-o-

Panting heavily, Minato stood still as he waited for his attacker to show himself once more. Kunai in hand, ready to defend and retaliate, his blue eyes darted back and forth, waiting for the masked man to spring forward again.

"_You're fast, Hokage-Sama."_ The man's words whispered through from his left, forcing the Yondaime to turn his head in said direction for a brief half second before realizing the man was misleading him. Twisting his body to his right, he raised his weapons to block the strike that would have pierced through him if he hadn't figured out the ploy and blocked when he had; three metal kunai ringing in metallic cries as they impacted against one another. _"You're annoyingly fast."_ The man stated again as he pressed his weight against the blonde Hokage beneath him.

"As are you." Minato whispered as milliseconds before vanishing into thin air; leaving the masked man to fall toward the earth. The man quickly corrected himself and willed himself intangible as the blonde man reappeared behind him and struck out with a two prong strike against both the base of his neck as well as his lower spine. "Grr!" Minato groaned angrily as his attacked speared through the image of the masked man in front of him. Quickly pulling his arms and weapons back, he whirled around and blocked a strike aimed for the base of his on neck.

"_Angry that you can't hit me?"_ The man taunted as he pulled his weapon back and unraveled a long metal chain from inside his left sleeve. _"The great Yondaime Hokage; Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash of Konohagakure, a god amongst men...None of your attacks are of any use. The village will fall beneath the Kyuubi no Kitsune, your wife will die as will your son and daughter and you will follow shortly."_ He made no noise as he willed the metal snake to life, using chakra to guide its path toward him, snaking through the air in an effort to entangle the blonde before he could counter the attack.

Flipping backwards several times in quick succession, Minato narrowly evaded the chain as he thought of a way to injure the man in front of him. "Why?" He asked, hoping that some banter would entice the man into some sort of monologue that would tie the masked man up for several few, scant seconds while he prepared his counter attack.

"_Why?"_ The man asked slowly. _"To bring about a true world peace, a peace that can never be broken. A peace where only I sit at top the world's throne and command."_ The masked man stopped before laughing slightly. _"I see what you did there, Hokage. It was a nice try, but don't think that I would have left my guard down just so I could monologue for you."_

_'Damn!'_ Minato cursed.

A loud roar of annoyance echoed throughout the forest, causing both men to look away from each other and gaze up at the crimson death bringer known as the Kyuubi as it roared angrily before moving its head back and forth; the crazed look in its eyes that it had when the battle between the two power houses had first begun was long gone and it seemed to be taking in its surroundings for the first time since being unsealed from Kushina's naval.

"_Awake are you, my pet?"_ The masked man asked as he locked eyes with a single large crimson orb that had finally found their battleground. It roared in anger as it took the men in and began to summon a sweltering breath of flame to spew forth at the two men. Just as the gates of gigantic pearly teeth began to pull back, a river of flame housed behind them; the beast's eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks for mere seconds before they began to reshape into the crazed expression it held minutes earlier. _"Odd."_ The masked man told himself as he stared the beast down. _"You should have been under my control for much, much longer; Kyuubi. I wonder if I'm going so-"_ The masked man's words were ripped away from him as a three pronged kunai barreled toward him at speeds that normal human eyes weren't able to see.

Minato hoped beyond hope that with the masked man preoccupied with trying to reign in the Kyuubi towering above them, that he would have been able to land a hit on the man. Wary of the chain that now rested on the ground as the man concentrated on the Bijuu behind him, he hurled one of his kunai at the man; aiming for his mid-section.

Unfortunately, like all of his other attacks on the man that night; he managed to evade the attack by letting the weapon speed through his body, entering where his chest should have been and leaving where the furthest most point of his back protruded from, sailing through the air behind him and embedding itself into a tree. Frowning to himself, Minato made to follow his kunai, ready to attack the man relentlessly while he did what he did to the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

As he began to flare his chakra, ready to step through time and space to where his kunai was buried, the chain that the masked man had been using sprang to life and snaked up toward him and grabbed him by the left ankle, pulling him out of his technique with the sound of a sonic boom, deafening both men and forcing the Kyuubi's head upward into the sky with a loud, pained howl.

Eyes clenched tight as the sound of the sonic boom, Minato tried to blindly kick the chain off of his ankle. He quickly stopped struggling against the chain when he realized that with every move he made to dislodge himself from it, it contracted around his leg; squeezing it painfully to the point where he thought that if he struggled against it once more, that it would rip his leg clear off of his body. Opening his blue eyes, he made a grab for another kunai in his pouch, but was interrupted by a heavy foot slamming into the middle of his back, cracking it slightly and temporarily paralyzing him on the spot.

"_You have been the only person to ever meet my skill in battle, Yondaime Hokage."_ The masked man stated as he stood on the small of the blonde's back, looking down at him through the hole in his mask. _"I commend you for it...Unfortunately for you, you're just not strong enough to defeat me."_ He moved his arm and the chain removed itself from around the man's leg and snaked around and underneath Minato's torso, squeezing him as it coiled around his body. Getting off of the blonde's back, the masked man nodded to himself before willing the chains to lift Minato up off the ground and forcibly twisting the man around so he could look directly at him, eye-hole to pain filled blue eyes. _"Don't worry. I am, if nothing else; a merciful man." _The masked man stated softly. _"I'll make sure that their deaths are quick and painless."_ He raised an arm and from behind him, the Kyuubi looked down at them for a split second before turning back toward the village. Then, amazingly, it sat back on its hindquarters and tilted its head back toward the sky and began to slowly suck in air.

Very slowly, almost as if they were being hoisted into the air on invisible ropes made of the strongest material in the universe, the beast's monstrous tails began to lift high into the air. As they began to rise, large black and red orbs began to birth themselves into existence as they collected at an amazingly slow rate between the fanning of its nine deadly tails and slowly pushing forward until it was condensing just above the beast's mouth. _"Very soon, Yondaime; everyone you ever loved or cared about will be gone. The village you cared for will be gone and the only ones left will be the ones who fled from the chaos. I will hunt them down in your image and eradicate all beings, be they human or animal; from this place...And then I will turn my sights on the other villages. One by one, they shall all fall until no one else is left alive. Then, from the ashes of this world, I will recreate the world in my image. A truly peaceful world..."_ The masked man whispered softly.

"...An...And what...what kind of world...would that be?" The blonde man managed as the chain squeezed him tightly.

"_As I said, Namikaze Minato;"_ the man began, turning his gaze to the moon that hung low in the night's sky; _"I shall make a truly peaceful world...Earth shall no longer be its name...But...It's name shall be _Rin_..."_

Blue eyes widened as the words hit his ears. "...O...Obito?"

"_Not quite..." _The man stated, looking down at him once more. _"But not quite wrong either. I was Obito...But I was also another as well. You've heard tales of my other self, Minato-Sensei...After all, my other self nearly killed the Shodaime Hokage; and would have too if not for your wife's relative."_

"...Uchiha...Madara..." Minato breathed out in awe. The masked man merely nodded. "...H...How are you still alive?"

"_I am alive because I did not wish to die, Minato-Sensei."_ The masked man stated, earning a flinch from the man bound in chain. _"The shinigami tried to take my soul many times, but I fought against him and won, every single time."_

"Oh no." A new voice ripped through the clearing, earning both combatants' attention. Through a twisting nether like vortex, a young, lithe being with long blonde hair and sharp tipped ears with one single glimmering purple eye and an almost smoldering orange eye, wearing dark leather clothing stepped out of the vortex and on the air jut above their field of battle. "You haven't won anything." The odd looking entity began as he walked through the air toward the masked man and the Yondaime Hokage. "All you've done is beat back my cousin's, cousin's hand. The Shinigami you've never faced; just his minions in his place."

"_Who are you?!"_ The masked man asked hotly.

"...Naruto..." Minato gasped out painfully. "...Come back to Konoha to watch it burn?" He asked, his voice through strained as it was, somewhat humorous as he gazed at the blonde being in front of him.

"I'll admit that I did prop myself up and watch part of the show." The blonde nodded, a small; disturbing grin appearing on his face as he thought about the recent memory, ruined by a kunai impaling his drink. "But then someone managed to snipe my poor drink out of my grasp with a kunai. So I hunted him down and killed him!" The being's orange eye flared somewhat at the mentioning of killing the man who had destroyed his beverage earlier that night. "And then I find that thing;" He pointed at the Kyuubi, still gathering its power above its mouth, "and decided to come see the fireworks!" This time, the being's purple eye shone with unbridled power as he spoke. "Delicious chaos and destruction!"

"_Minato-Sensei...What is this being?"_ The masked man asked as he stared at the floating being.

"This, Obito...Madara...Whoever you are;" Minato began, smiling painfully at the man's ire as he called him by his two names. "is Naruto. A name given to him by my darling wife when we were kids after he lost his shadow in my wife's apartment after chasing it around the village. As for what he is...We're not entirely sure. Daedric for sure, but what else...Who knows."

"Did I thank you for that?" Naruto asked seriously, his smile falling. Minato nodded.

"You thanked me for helping you, but only ever repaid Kushina for the effort..." His blue eyes shown with a sparkle of hope. "You never repaid me, Naruto." The being's back straightened as the words left the blonde man's lips and his eyes narrowed in displeasure.

"_Repaid?"_ The masked man asked slowly as he looked down at his sensei and then to the being who had gone rather still since the mentioning of the favor needing to be repaid. _"What do you mean by 'repaid', sensei?"_

"I helped him track his shadow down when I was a young teen and I helped capture it. As per the laws binding the Daedric; he owes me a favor in return." Minato stated, his voice growing stronger with each syllable. "Isn't that right, Naruto?"

"...Damn you humans and your long memories!" The blonde being hissed as he floated above the ground, clenching his fists tightly into balls by his side. "...Are you going to call the favor in?" Minato nodded. The floating being let out a sigh of anger; "Let me guess? The titan?"

The masked man looked between the two and found himself confused by the word used. Titan? What did the odd being mean by tita- _"I don't think so!"_ He snarled as he hurled Minato's body away from him and launched himself at the small floating being, who's eyes widened in shock as he flew at him with speeds unparallelled by the majority of humanity. Chains leaving Minato's body and snaking toward the floating entity. Whatever this being was, it was as good as dead!

Moments before the chains slammed into and tangled around the being's arms and legs, two small patches of rotating pitch black energy sprang to life and the chains that raced toward the being, vanished through the spinning vortexes. Eye widening behind his mask, Obito-Madara willed himself to stop, pushing his legs down to the ground and sticking steadfast. He glared harshly at the blonde being, who's eyes had narrowed to normal size and smirked at him.

"That was a nice try," the being, Naruto; commented. "However, this; is how it's done!"

Suddenly, the two vortexes were gone, replaced with nothing but the air that had originally been there before they appeared. Obito-Madara bent his knees, waiting for the counter-attack; ready to phase and shift to a different point in time to dodge and then decimate whatever the being was; this 'Daedric' boy-thing; and then return to demolishing the village and there soon after; the world. However, as he waited for the counter-attack, he realized that he had been played. Hearing noises behind him, he swiveled his head and found that the spot where Minato had been hurled to ground just seconds earlier was empty. Spinning widely, looking for the man who he had trapped earlier but to no avail. He looked toward the Kyuubi and found the blonde haired man standing on the tip of the beast's nose, his hands running through a jutsu he had seen several times before. His heart skipped a beat. And then two.

If Minato finished that jutsu then his plan would be ruined.

Turning his heels toward the blonde spec in the distance; he prepared to hurl himself through time and space; kunai at the ready to bisect the man atop the Kyuubi's nose before he could finish his jutsu.

With a mighty push of his legs, he flung himself through time, racing toward the blonde in the rapidly shrinking distance. Kunai raised and ready to separate the man in front of him, he had no time to dodge when two vortexes opened up beside him and his own chains from earlier spat out at him, wrapping around his torso and legs at speeds nigh impossible, even for space-time jutsu.

His eyes bugled painfully as his brain crashed into the front of the inside of his skull as something stopped him from flying through the air, pulling him to a stop instantly. "Sorry." A familiar voice rang out from behind him. "But I can't let you stop him. It would be a breach of my word." Suddenly, as quickly as he stopped moving, he felt himself swing through the air at an insane rate of speed; twirling him so quickly that his flesh threatened to separate from his bones. "And I am a Demi-God of my word!"

_'Demi-God?!'_ Obitio-Madara asked himself seconds before the world stopped spinning around him and began to enlarge far too quickly for him to do a thing to try and stop it. _"Damn you all of you damned beings of lust, war and destruction to the deepest part of Hel-"_

_**THOOOWM-BUUUURRGGG!**_

-o-

Several men and women watched as an ungodly phenomenon took place a mere hundred yards away from the Yondaime who now stood atop the Kyuubi's massive nose. Flashes of purple and orange light so bright they looked almost dull against the black sky began to pop into and out of existence. It began slowly, with one dull pop of purple and then it quickly began to accelerate from there. A dull orange pop of light several yards above from where the first pop began and then another purple one several yards below the first and twice as far away from the second pop. Soon, it was as if they were watching a fireworks display; purple and orange lights flashing dully in the sky for nearly a twenty seconds before it suddenly stopped with a sonic boom. However, unlike the enormous explosion of sound that had rung out earlier in the night that stopped the Kyuubi in its tracks, this one had a physical wound upon the earth.

The earth from where the Yondaime Hokage had been earlier that night, before dancing up to the Kyuubi's massive maw and before settling on its nose, preparing something that would hopefully stop the Kyuubi's onslaught; suddenly exploded in a shower of earth and rock. Boulders of dirt and stone flew high into the sky and then began to fall all over the area.

Whatever had happened to cause the light show and the explosion, the men and women realized that it was not the Yondaime's doing. Something else was near their village that night...And it didn't seem too happy with the way things were going.

-o-

Minato felt his legs shake uncontrollably as the massive beast beneath him tilted its head away from the sudden explosion that ripped through the air a few scant seconds earlier in an effort to shake away the pain as it collected even more energy for whatever attack it had been preparing under Obito-Madara's command.

Command. It was odd to think that someone other than the Shodaime Hokage and his wife, Mito; could have figured out a way to control the Bijuu...But back when Madara challenged the Shodaime to a life and death battle over the future of the village decades earlier; he had proven that even the Uchiha could forcibly control the Bijuu with their Sharingan. Thankfully most of the Uchiha seemed to think differently from Madara...And Obito; who had somehow come to the conclusion that everyone in the world other than himself-and Madara-were evil beings who needed to be eradicated from the world and then to act as a god and rebuild humanity in his-their-own image.

Suddenly, as the thoughts of his old, previously thought to be deceased student joining forces with what should have been a long dead man of the Shodaime's era; the Kyuubi stopped breathing in. Still a long ways off from finishing the jutsu he had begun almost four minutes earlier, Minato turned his head while he willed his hands to continue moving. He wasn't sure as to what the Kyuubi was going to do with the gigantic ball of chakra that floated in mid air, but he knew that however it was unleashed, it would destroy everything in its path. Spying a few brave men and women coming closer to the titanic beast, he left the beast's nose and skillfully ran down the beast's body until he was barely forty feet above the ground, where he launched himself carefully toward the earth; jutsu still going strong as he met the men and women rushing toward the beast's location.

"Yondaime-Sama!" One of the men shouted as he slowed to a tired, though still careful walk. "What's going on? What's the Kyuubi doing?"

"I don't know what it's doing." Minato admitted. "What I do know is that is currently under the control of someone who's supposed to be long since dead."

"Who, Hokage-Sama?" A woman with neck length purple hair asked as she came to a halt next to the first man.

"My old pupil, Obito." The Yondaime stated painfully.

"Didn't he die during the last war?" She asked, clearly confused.

Nodding, Minato opened his mouth once more; "Crushed under a giant boulder that broke nearly every bone in his body." He confirmed. "However, somehow, along with another man who is supposed to be very much dead and long since decomposed; he survived. Now, for some reason or another; he wishes not only to destroy Konoha, but all of us."

"...I don't understand." Another man began. "I thought that Obito loved the village."

"He did." Minato agreed, moving onto the final stages of the jutsu he had been working through for nearly six minutes now. "Unfortunately, he seems to think that this world is both disgusting and evil and wishes to purge it of all human life so he can bring about a new world of true, proper peace; inhabited with those he considers to be made in his own creation."

"...He's delusional." The woman spat. Minato nodded in agreement. She made to say more, but was cut off as another woman with long, dark colored hair wearing an Anbu uniform pointed behind him.

"Hokage-Sama!" Minato snapped his head in the direction of her extended finger and saw something even more horrifying than he had when he saw the beast beginning to draw so much raw, unstable energy while he was wrapped in his student's chakra enhanced chains.

Towering above them, the Kyuubi removed its front two paws from the face of the world and brought them up above its head and formed a tiny cradle underneath the massive orb of energy that swirled above its head. With very little effort, the monstrous ball of energy began to waver, sending sheets of pure, white hot fear down everyone's spine as they watched the ball prepare to explode...

_**DOOO-UUUMM!**_

Suddenly, with a sound that would have shattered glass for miles to come, if there had been any glass to begin with, the massive orb decreased in volume. As soon as the orb shrunk, everyone heard a faint whistle on the wind.

_**DOOO-UUUMM!**_

Who knows how many pairs of eyes sat upon the gigantic ball of chakra as it shrunk yet again above the fearsome beasts head.

Again, much like after the first time the ball shrank, the whistling increased in both pitch and intensity.

A pair of blue eyes widened to their fullest as the realization of what the beast was doing as they watched the orb become smaller and smaller and the beasts might maw opening ever more slightly with each decrease in size.

"Shit!" Minato swore loudly, breaking the gathered the attention of the group of shinobi that had gathered around him. "It's going to eat it." He stated softly, though loud enough for the group of men and women to hear him. "It's going to eat it...After that, I'm not sure of what it'll do, but I can only imagine that it'll be somethin-"

"It will devour its own energy and then fire it from its maw directly at the village." A new, aged voice broke into the conversation. Swiveling on the balls of his feet, Minato; and his gathered companions, turned toward the voice.

"...Danzou..." Minato greeted. The aged War Hawk acknowledged him very briefly as he hobbled closer toward the beast.

"I've seen this only once before, Namikaze." The aged man stated, his tone unfriendly but level. "Those who have survived it tell of a massive amount of energy that once condensed into a small enough orb will be devoured by the Bijuu. Once done, the Bijuu will level its jaws at its target on the closest level and will then expel every ounce energy it summoned during in the orb for one final attack." The air shuddered violently once more as the orb decreased in volume once more.

From behind its head, the nine crimson tails slowly curled up and over the Kyuubi's head and with their tips facing the ball of super dense chakra; seemingly began to push the orb down into the beast's jowls.

"We haven't much time then." Minato stated, turning back to those gathered around him. "Thankfully I'm almost done with this jutsu." he nodded toward his hands. Those gathered eyed his hands oddly as his fingers dodged in and out of the way with each other as they wove their trap. "Danzou...How many times can a Bijuu fire off such an attack? And how long between each shot?"

"As far as I know, Namikaze; it can only fire off one shot." The aged man stated. "However, as the Bijuu tires, the time between forming the attack decreases." His slitted eyes seemed to vanish as he furrowed his eye brows at the younger man. "Whatever you're doing Minato, it had better work."

"It'll work." Minato stated boldly. "It withstood six of Gamabunta's most powerful Suiton attacks in rapid succession."

"Gamabunta, while insanely powerful compared to us humans; is no match against the Kyuubi; Minato." The War Hawk stated. "And I'm sure that whatever your jutsu does, it won't work nearly as well with amount of energy that the Kyuubi's attack has."

"I'll make it work." Minato declared softly, his eyes narrowing. "I'll make it work...And then, then I'll deal with the Kyuubi."

"And if the attack renders you incapacitated?" The purple haired woman asked.

"As long as I'm not dead, then all I need is for someone to help me get to where I need to be to stop the Kyuubi once and for all!"

"Namikaze." The blue eyed man turned to look back at the War Hawk. "You've never agreed with my point of view." He stated. "And I've never thought too much of you." Minato frowned, as did the others around him. "However, on this night; you've proven to me that you do have the village's best intents in mind." He nodded his head toward the young man. "No matter what happens to you, I'll do my best to make sure that the village survives."

"..." Minato took a step toward the beast behind him as it began to shut its mouth around the ball of super condensed chakra. "What's your aim, Danzou?" He asked finally.

"My 'aim' is to ensure that this village doesn't die tonight...Or any other night, Yondaime." The elderly man grunted. "For tonight and tonight only, I give my troops to you for as long as it the good of the village."

"..." Minato stared at him silently for several long seconds before finally nodding. "I appreciate it." He then turned to the purple haired woman, "Tell him what I told you all." He snapped his eyes toward the other woman and the other men surrounding him. "I've used a lot of energy tonight. I'll need help getting in position to negate whatever this beast is planning." The purple haired woman glanced at Danzou for several milliseconds before nodding and walking toward him, while the others nodded and stepped forward to help their Hokage. "...If I survive this night, Danzou...I'll be sure to repay your...kindness."

"If the village survives this night, Namikaze; then consider the debt repaid." Danzou grunted before turning away with the purple haired woman.

As the woman began to inform Danzou about his fight with his pupil and the other man who seemed to share his body; Minato turned away to face the Kyuubi as it began to slowly level itself toward the village; it's stomach large and full of chaotic energy. "Let's go!" He commanded. "Help me get in front of it's attack! Once we're there, break away and run as far away as you can before it fires!"

"Yes, Hokage-Sama!" The group of shinobi barked as two of the men grabbed the back of his vest, turning him around and running as fast as they could toward the monster in the distance; with the other two shinobi following close behind them.

-o-

"I don't know what your issue is, but it's really boring." Naruto began as he watched the man...men..._thing_ crawl out of yet another pit created by his body colliding with the earth. "I mean, I keep pulling your out of the pocket you seem to like to create around your body when you move; punching you in the stomach or kicking you in the groin-by the way, if you still have testicles after this; I'd be amazed-or slam you head first into the earth below and you just keep getting back up. Granted, it takes you longer and longer to do so; but one should be able to realize that they aren't a threat to the person their fighting when they keep getting their ass tossed around without their opponent getting seroius."

"_...M...My ambition...Is e...e...enough...to keep me going...Demon..."_ The masked man stated through his all but shattered mask as he tried to pull himself back on to his feet.

"Hey, hey now." Naruto chided as he floated in mid air, waving a finger back and forth at the man. "My cousin's a demon and she's absolutely adorable. Not to mention peaceful too."

"_There's no such...thing...as a peaceful...demon..."_ Obito-Madara growled.

"Actually, there is...Just as not all angels are good." Naruto began. "Some of them are far more evil than you could imagine."

"_...I'll believe it when I see it."_

"If that's the way you want to be..." Naruto shrugged. "Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to kill you now. Debts to pay off and the like, you know." The blonde waved his hand and with a bit of distortion that rippled through the air, a short, wooden staff appeared. "Introducing, the Wabbajack!" The blonde announced as the black staff grabbed it out of the air and leveling it at the masked man in front of him. "Originally I thought about just transforming you into and insect and then squashing you like the insane insect you seem to act like-one track mind and all that; but I've since decided that maybe, just maybe; it'd be funnier to just turn you into a wheel of cheese."

"_...A wheel of cheese?"_ Obito-Madara asked stoically.

Nodding, Naruto smirked and continued; "Yes...Cheese..." He trailed off for a moment and then let out a snort of laughter. "The last time I turned someone into a wheel of cheese, she was eaten by her sister! Sliced to pieces and then set upon a sandwich between pork slices and then devoured!" Both eyes glowed brightly as the being recalled the event he evidently found as both hilarious as well as something worth cherishing. "But, then again; I don't actually have control over the staff or its powers. Only a fully fledged god can do that." Naruto continued. "So you may just turn into a rabbit...Or, even a demonic warrior with only one thought on its mind: Murdering; and then turning back into a normal human only to have someone pierce your ugly face with an axe, splitting it down the middle; letting your brains spill out all over the place!"

"_You're demented."_ Obito-Madara remarked. Naruto's smile only grew with the complement.

"Indeed..." He purred. "Now, let's see what you'll become, shall we?" Without warning, a dark crimson colored orb of energy spewed forth from the staff and sped toward the masked man across from him. The spell collided with Obito-Madara's chest and immediately got to work, transforming him into something different than what he had been before.

"_GAAAH!"_ Obito-Madara screamed shrilly as pain wracked his-their-body seconds after the spell collided with their chest. He-they-could feel their bones twisting horribly, changing shape and size, pulling away from portions of their body and expanding in areas that shouldn't been expanded, breaking portions of their body into fragmented pieces before a great feeling of nothingness grasped them.

Naruto watched in glee as the shroud that formed around the man's body began to collaspe in on itself. "Please let it be cheese!" He whispered to no one as he watched the transformation come to an end. "Oh, poopy." He whined as he took in the new being in front of him. "Dremora, eh?"

The being in front of him was tall and had dark skin, with face painted blood red and wore spiky metal armor that glinted in the moonlight. It stood there for several moments, looking at the area that surrounded him before removing the giant hammer from his back after setting its eyes on him. "I will eat your heart!" The demonic warrior declared loudly as it dashed across the expanse, hammer raised high in the air; ready to crush Naruto's skull, sending brain matter all over the clearing. However, as the demonic warrior neared the blonde's location, the blonde merely floated upward until he was far out of the warrior's reach. "You pansy!" He snarled. "Come down here and fight me like a true Dremora!"

"Why in the world would I want to fight you? You're even weaker than the man I transformed you from." Naruto stated. "Also, don't you know who you're talking to? I mean, I know I wasn't liked very well for being a halfling's halfling, but I'm still part of the royal family, you dumbass!"

"The Halfling Prince?" The demon asked slowly, letting the name roll of his tongue. Suddenly, its dark eyes grew in realization. The expression didn't last for too long as the warriors mouth twisted with dark glee. "A reward of immortality has been placed upon your head, Halfling Prince!" The beast shouted upward. "And I fully intend on collecting such a grandiose prize!"

"A price? On my head?" Naruto asked, puzzled. "Bah, must be Brother. He always hated having me for a half-brother. After all, I'm not only girlier looking than he is, but no one ever confuses me for being twisted like he is!" A smile bloomed on his face. "Still, I guess its the thought that counts." A hand movement caught the warrior's eye for a split second before a bow made of pale purple energy appeared in the boy's hands. Soon thereafter, an arrow made of the same energy notched itself to the purple band that was the string. "Please, I'm trying to pay off a debt here. Be gone with you!"

With the sound of thunder rolling across the skies, the arrow launched forth from the bow and slipped through the air and imbedded itself in the Dremora's chest, piercing its heart and felling it instantly. Smiling as the beastly man fell to the ground, dead as a doorknob; Naruto waited for the body of the Dremora to dissolve and the body of Obito-Madara switch places.

After three minutes of waiting, and the Dremora's body dissovled into that of a lame fawn; most likely having been caught by something during the fight against the monolith of a beast that Minato had sped off to deal with. Naruto cursed and let loose an invisible wave of energy that spread throughout the area. The sneaky man had somehow managed to switch places with the infant deer and pulled a fast one over on him.

Purple eye and orange eye smoldered as the thought of a mortal pulling a fast one on him seeped into his mind.

He would find this human who had lived far beyond the point where his life...lives...should have ended. And when he did, he would annihilate their bodies from existence!

-o-

Uzumaki Kushina, wife of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage; stared in disbelief as the corpse of the stern, but yet wonderfully kind Sarutobi Biwako lay at the entrance to the cave that she had been brought to to birth her two children; far away from the rest of humanity in case certain problems had arose during their birth. Unfortunately, no one; not even her husband nor his predecessor had seen the masked man with the Sharingan eye wreaking havoc on them. Nor had anyone foreseen the man unsealing and pulling the titanic being from her naval.

She could hear the screams of terror and of the dying in the distance; the explosions of battling a giant monster like the Kyuubi no Kitsune; and she had seen her husband peel off after the masked man who had killed Biwako; killed her guards and had threatened to kill her son, Kurama; who was named not after the beast that had been sealed within her; but rather, her grandfather, the first man who had ever held her after her own father. A man with a wonderfully delicate name who painted the battlefield that had been her home land with the blood of her clan's enemies as he bought her time to escape to Konohagakure with a few other survivors. Now, with two infants hanging off of her hips; collected as close to her as she could possible hold them as she staggered toward the mouth of the cave, the sight of the devastation floored her.

Trees were burning, the air hung heavy with the smell of death and rot; and the screams that had filled the air had begun to fade to pitiful moans of help; a few of them just ceasing to exist entirely. She gulped fearfully. She was not fit to fight. She wasn't fit to help anyone; but deep down inside, she knew she had to do something.

Slowly tearing her eyes away from the devastation in front of her, she eyed her babies. Even as uncomfortable as they were, being held in a single arm, pressed as gently as she could but as tightly as she could for their safety; she smiled down at them.

Kurama, named after her grandfather; already a victim of a failed assassination attempt by a masked murderer; twisted as best as he could in order to keep warm. Turning her head to her right, she gazed down fondly at her other baby, Midori; who had inherited her name from the simple fact that she liked the color green. Maybe not so much as a child, but as she grew; most of her clothes had changed from bright colors such as reds and oranges; to colors like blues and greens. And since the name 'Aoi' was already given to a weird boy in the village who looked more like a weasel than Mikoto's oldest son, Itachi; she didn't want to stick her daughter with such a creepy namesake. Her smile grew as her daughter merely scrunched her eyes tighter before smacking her lips softly.

Either way, they were her's. Her's and Minato's. And she would do anything for them.

"First," she began softly as she looked down at her children; "we find a safe spot for you two...Then, I'll go and find Tou-Chan..."

-o-

"ind Tou-Chan..."

She wasn't aware of her predicament. Perfect. It would make both her and her two children's slaughter that much more gratifying.

Obito-Madara took in the red head's tired visage and quelled the angry growl that had tried to escape it as he gazed at her. A full grown, loving mother; even if she hadn't been a mother for more than an hour yet, who gazed fondly and lovingly down at her newborn who rested in her arms. Oh how he longed for something similar.

A full grown woman with medium length brown hair and pink triangles decorating her cheeks; looking down a happy, healthy bundle of joy. It wouldn't have mattered what gender the infant was; as long as it was healthy and happy. To be with them for the rest of eternity...It was all he had truly wanted. But alas, it wasn't to be...And it was all because of Konohagakure and the rest of the shinobi world. Everyone was to blame...And everyone, no matter how old or how young; would pay the price.

Slipping a kunai out from beneath the tresses of his battered, damaged cloak; Obito-Madara stepped silently toward her, ready to jam the metal instrument of death down through her neck, piercing her spine, killing her instantly. Then, just as he promised himself; he would move on to the two infants on her hips.

As he raised his weapon high, he calculated her next action. She would either step forward, not realizing that something was wrong. She would either realize something was wrong and move from her current location; forcing him to move with her. Or, she would stand still. Either way, he planned for one strike.

As she began to take a breath of air, Obito-Madara struck. With the speed of a viper, striking out at a predator or at prey, he brought the weapon down upon her neck...

_**Ba – THWOOM!**_

"_**GAACK!"**_

-o-

_**Ba – THWOOM!**_

"_**GAACK!"**_

The sound of something tearing through the air, and then slamming directly into the ground scared the living hell out of the exhausted Kushina as well as her two newborns at her hips. Whirling around to where the noise had come from, the disheveled redhead found a very familiar blonde, floating in the air above a very familiar masked man; who lay painfully in a large crater.

"N...Naruto?!" She shouted over the wails of her twins. The floating blonde with pointed ears ignored her as he stared down at the man in the ground.

"You thought that YOU could pull a fast one over on ME?!" The angry, lithe blonde shouted at the man, who groaned painfully as he tried to correct himself. "NO ONE MAKES A FOOL OF THE DEMI-GOD OF MISCHIEF! NO ONE!" Thunder crackled through the sky as the clouds shook in fear of the angry Demi-God as he shouted at the incredibly durable mortal beneath him. Raising a staff high into air, a large, swirling cloud of red energy was birthed into existence. "You will die a fools death!" The blonde spat as he pumped more of his energy into the growing ball of red death atop the staff. "AND THEN I WILL VISIT YOU IN THE REALM OF DEATH AND RE-KILL YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR YOUR SLIGHT!"

Kushina, from her location couldn't see the masked man's face as the mask finally broke and slid down his face. But what she could see was the man worming his way backward from the angry deity who she had given a human name the first time she aided him in finding his shadow. She knew the blonde boy with pointed ears to be powerful, but she had never seen him this angry before.

"The skies will rain fire upon you, you worthless piece of shit!" The pint sized deity growled as the orb of fire shot off from the top of his staff and flew high into air and unimaginable speeds.

The man, during the display of power and rage that the young deity had shown to those in the vicinity; managed to get to his feet. Dark hair fell messily down over two distinctly red and black eyes and a familiar expression of helplessness poured over his face; one that hit Kushina like a ton of bricks.

"O...Obito..."

-o-

Snapping his eyes toward the redhead in the distance, Obito-Madara formulated a plan. He couldn't avoid the angry spirit that seemed to be able to tug him out of the dimension he had claimed as his own; and the very thought pissed him off. It was the perfect technique for killing people of all ages, young or old, weak or powerful. It was perfect. And it was perfect because he was the only one to be able to control it as he did.

No one was supposed to be able to find him there.

...But the spirit that his sensei and his wife knew managed to do it time and time again. Not only that...He felt helpless against him.

Looking up at the ball of red death and would surely strike him down, he steeled himself. If he couldn't destroy the world and recreate it in his own image; then he would make sure that the people who could have saved the love of his life feel the same way he did.

Forcing himself, despite how tired he felt, he opened his slip space stream and summoned a kunai into his hand. Ignoring the angry spirit in front of him, he closed his eyes and lunged through the stream, kunai aiming directly at Kushina's torso.

There was a scream of pain and two loud, though short wails of confused fear as he exited his technique.

Something splattered against his head. It was warm and smelled faintly of copper. He allowed himself to smile. As beaten as he was, as damaged as his plan was; he had managed to finally get something he had planned on doing this night of all nights done. He opened his eyes painfully and glanced up, smiling maniacally up at the redheaded woman who, at one point in time; helped him prank people. Who had helped him work on his jutsu and allowed him to crash at her apartment when his family had all but disowned him. Her faint, purple eyes nothing but tiny pin pricks in the darkness of the night stared down into his next to lifeless eyes with nothing but pain, confusion, betrayal and fear behind them.

Vengeance was sweet.

Something wet and warm, though cooled rapidly rolled down his left cheek. Then, shortly after; his right cheek.

He absently rolled his tongue out of his mouth and licked a stray trail as it rolled past his nose and over his lips. _'Tears?'_ He asked himself. Where they Kushina's, or were they his?

His answer didn't come to him as the redhead fell away, falling backwards onto his back; her arms moving in an instinctive motion that would hopefully allow her newborns to land relatively uninjured.

His eyes widened.

Kushina was as good as dead, her body tired from both birthing twins as well as having the Kyuubi ripped forcibly from her. It had left her body weak. It was a good thing...

...The infants, however; they too needed to die. To teach his old sensei-to teach everyone-to feel the same way he felt. They needed to die.

Standing up slowly, painfully; Obito-Madara took a step took a shaky step toward the downed woman. Her chest still rose and it still fell. Remarkable was the Uzumaki bloodline. Able to shrug off wounds that would normally kill someone instantly. Simply remarkable. His crazed red eyes locked with her purple eyes for a split second.

"...W...Why?" She asked up to him.

"...Because...You took Rin away from me..." He answered slowly. "You...Kakashi...Iwa...Minato-Sensei...You all did."

"R-Rin?" Kushina asked haltingly. "...All of this...for Rin?" Obito-Madara nodded. He broke eye contact and looked down at the two infants at her sides, their wails and protests for protection and warmth falling upon dying ears. Slowly, from the tresses of his sleeves; two kunai slowly began to point down toward their small bodies. Purple eyes, full of pain and exhaustion; grew wide as they spotted the weapons. "O-Obito..." She gasped.

"I was supposed to be with Rin..." He began slowly. "I was supposed to be with her...Until the day we died!" He spat loudly. A red light began to shine down upon him. He ignored it. "I was supposed to be with her until the day we died!" He spat again, anger and anguish filling his voice as he snarled. "But Kakashi killed her! She loved him, not me! And he killed her! His hand through her chest, destroying her heart instantly with that damned move of his!" His voice grew in volume as he shouted.

The red light grew brighter and brighter as he vented, and though he continued to ignore it; Kushina didn't. She spared a glance from the insane young man in front of her; ignoring the pain that was the kunai in her stomach and found the enormous ball of fire that Naruto had fired into the sky moments earlier was indeed falling upon Obito. She quickly turned her blurring gaze to the man in front of her. There was only one thing to do.

There was only one thing she _could_ do.

"No one loves me, Kushina!" Obito-Madara spat. "NO ONE!"

"...We...We always loved you, Obito-Kun..." The redhead began softly, earning a look from the young man. "I loved you...Minato-Kun loved you...Rin did and, in his own special way; even Kakashi loved you." She shook her head sympathetically. "If we had known you were alive, then we would have come to you. But we didn't know that you were alive."

"...If you all _loved_ me so much, then why haven't you killed Kakashi for killing Rin?!" Obito-Madara snarled.

"...Because...Rin asked him to kill her." Obito-Madara's eyes shrank to pin pricks. "She had been turned into a unwilling Jinchuuriki, Obito-Kun...Captured by an enemy and turned into a Jinchuuriki who's seal was so malformed and disgusting; it was set to destroy both Rin as well as Konoha as soon as she walked through the gates." Tears fell from her eyes as she recanted. "She didn't want to become a weapon to destroy everything she loved...Everything she fought to protect. So...She asked Kakashi to kill her to stop it from happening."

"..." Obito-Madara looked downward, staring at the redhead's midsection, eyes large and quivering for several seconds. Suddenly, with a shake of his head; he gripped the kunai and snapped his head up and his eyes borrowed into hers. _**"LIES!"**_ He snarled as he brought the two metal weapons down on the two infants. _**"ALL OF IT! LI-URK?!"**_

-o-

It happened in a moment. All of it. Time had seemed to slow down. It must have. There was no way that the spell should have stayed afloat as long as it had before coming back down toward its target. But yet, some how; it had. Purple and orange eyes bore into the scene of the crazed man he had been fighting all night so far and took in the image of him killing the wife of the man to whom he owed a debt to. The woman who had, after long last; given him a name that wasn't Halfling Prince or something thereof.

He watched, arm still stretched over head to make sure that it didn't veer off and strike a different target; like one of the two potential clients wrapped in their tiny blankets at the woman's side; unable to do anything but guide the spell down toward the man who knelt atop of the redhead woman, knives ready to cut into the two infants at her side just to spite her and her husband.

He growled. Whatever they were talking about was taking too long. He knew the redhead, though dying; was still alive enough to move. The man was nearly dead. A walking, talking husk; running off of vengeance and hatred.

All she had to do was move back by about three yards before the spell hit, and she'd be fine...As would her kids.

Glancing up at the spell, he noticed that it had, once again begun to slow down. He frowned. He wasn't doing that. He _couldn't_ do that. There was something else going on here. Something that he wasn't supposed to know about.

As he glanced at the spell, the man snapped. His mismatched eyes locked on to him in an instant and he prepared to hurl the spell off into the forest that surrounded them and slip through time and space to save the two infants; two future clients-hopefully-and be rid of the foul, breathing, living human husk.

Just as he went to hurl the spell into the distance, to step over to the man and deal with him, a single, bright blue chain made of energy sprouted forth from behind the woman's body and speared through the man's midsection like a hot knife through butter.

The chain carried him yards away from the woman and her infant children, and with a flick of the staff in his hand, Naruto redirected the spell of red death toward its target...

-o-

Minato continued making seals as his comrades pulled him toward where the Kyuubi was preparing to unleash its most destructive attack upon the village. He had to admit, even though they weren't capable of utilizing space-time jutsu like he and Obito-Madara had been able to; they were fast enough to help him get to the area where the blast was more than likely going to be unleashed at.

"Good!" He shouted. "Now, turn me around and then scatter!"

"As you wish, Yondaime-Sama!" The two men shouted as they turned the injured, exhausted, man around before splitting up into several different directions along with the rest of the small group that had accompanied them.

As he faced the titanic beast, who's stomach had bulged from all of the energy that it had consumed to create the attack about to be unleashed upon the village; Minato couldn't help but gulp slightly. It was all or nothing. He had to halt this attack...Or everything would be gone. His friends...His shinobi...His mentors...His neighbors. His friendly rivals. His house...

...His wife...His newborn children he had only seen for a split second before everything had gone to hell in a hand basket.

They would all be gone.

His eyes snapped open and steeled themselves as the beast opened its mouth and brought its right front paw toward its stomach. He had to stop it.

_He had to stop it._

The Kyuubi slammed its right paw into its stomach and for a split second, nothing happened.

_He had to stop it._

Then, starting as a small, black and red light at the back of its massive throat; something raced forth.

_He had to stop it._

A massive stream of raw, chaotic energy breached the beast's front teeth and began racing in a funnel shape straight toward him and the village behind him.

He _would_ stop it, even if it was the last thing he ever did!

As the stream began to expand as it raced forward, Minato finally pulled his hands apart from each other and held them out beside his head; **"Gate of Nothingness!*"**

From both of his hands, a large gate shimmered into existence. It was titanic, nearly as large as the Kyuubi was; and had a magnificent gold brick door that seemed to buckle inward upon itself.

-o-

There was no sound as the golden door that buckled inward to the massive gate that appeared as a flat disk in the sky. There was no sound as the Kyuubi's most powerful attack was absorbed by the gate.

For nearly three minutes straight, the gate stood, and for nearly two minutes and fifty seconds; the Kyuubi's attack lasted.

There was no sound when the gold bricks that had been absorbed by the gate suddenly reappeared and quickly locked together in front of the gate that had been summoned by a man without any other options.

...And just as it came into being, as silent as the night that crept upon the earth; the gate slipped into nothingness, there to stay until summoned once more.

-o-

Kushina watched as Obito's face contorted with pain as her chakra chain speared through his chest and forced him away from her children and herself; only to watch as the spell of red death that Naruto had conjured earlier; slammed into the man, setting him aflame.

She wanted to turn away from the horrific scene, the scene of watching someone she once knew and considered as a friend; burnt to a crisp by a spell so powerful, that it made justu of the same element look like mere matches by comparison.

She tore her dull, close to lifeless purple eyes away from the man she once considered to be a cute, energetic boy who'd do anything for a friend; burnt to a crisp under the power of a Demi-God; and eyed her children for a second before turning to the floating blonde entity in the distance.

"Naruto..." She called out quietly, her strength fueled by adrenaline leaving her. The deity turned to look at her. "I...I have a request for you...If you would like one."

Despite his eyes shining in the dark, ever enticed by the thought of someone making a deal with him; he scoffed at her. "You're dying." He pointed out quietly, but floated over to her nonetheless. "What good is cashing in on a dead debtor?"

"...I...I gave you a name...Didn't I?" She asked softly, smiling up at him.

"And I repaid that debt...As well as the one I owed you for helping me find my shadow." He pointed out. "I can't do favors for free, Kushina." He continued softly.

"I know...I know." She stated, waving it off with a small smile. "Still...I'd like to make a request."

"...I'll see what I can do."

-o-

"Way to go, Hokage-Sama!" Someone cheered as the Kyuubi's attack vanished from the face of the earth through the gate their leader had summoned.

"We're...not...out of the woods...yet..." The tired blonde panted before falling to one knee, causing several of the men surrounding him to take several steps toward him; some of them offering chakra pills to him. Minato accepted one of the pills and popped it quickly into his mouth.

It wasn't much, but it would give him just enough chakra to defend his village and defeat the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Minato." An old, gravely voice broke through the crowd. Minato turned to the speaker.

"Sandaime-Sama." He greeted back. "...Look...You and I both know that there's only one way to stop the Kyuubi."

Hiruzen nodded. He made a Kage Bunshin and had it scoop the younger man up in its arms. "Your wife should still be at the cave."

"...Sandaime-Sama..." Minato began, only to be cut off by the older man.

"Don't worry about it, Minato." The older man stated softly. "I knew about it the moment it happened. It was Biwako who told me about the severity of the problems in the forest." He trailed off for a split second before continuing. "...Also, Danzou told me about her passing."

"...I have...a friend who should have dealt with him." Hiruzen nodded at him before given a stern nod to the clone carrying the younger man.

"You know where to take him." The Sandaime ordered the clone, who nodded and instantly turn on its heels and ran off with the younger man in his arms. "Listen up everyone!" The elderly man commanded. "The Kyuubi is not an idle threat! No matter how much energy it used in that failed attack; it can still destroy the village with little problems! We need to redirect its attention and buy our Yondaime-Hokag the time he needs to deal with it permanently!"

From behind him, cheers sprouted as the elderly man summoned a familiar pole nearly as thick as he was and charged the Kyuubi head on.

"Come on, you stupid beast!" He shouted as the pole increased in length as he hoisted it up past his right shoulder in a batter's swing as he charged forward. "Follow the bouncing monkey!"

The Kyuubi, it's eyes finally free of whatever hold had held on to it for so long that night; saw a tiny human with gray fur racing toward it, insulting it and then found a giant, exceedingly hard pole as is struck its right eye with all of the monkey's strength.

"_**GU-RROOOAARR!"**_

-o-

As Minato-carried by the Sandaime's clone-closed in on the area where he was forced to leave his wife and children; he found a smoldering corpse lying on the ground and his wife sitting painfully with two bundles of cloth on her arms as she teetered very slowly on the ground, humming softly to the two lumps of cloth.

Setting his charge down, the clone of Hiruzen made its way up toward the cave and quickly found the body of his original's wife. He stared at her body for several moments before kneeling beside her and lifting her head up into his lap. There was no use for a clone to cry, there was no reason for them to cry...but despite that, the clone cried for the death of his original's wife.

As the clone cried silently for the passing of his original's wife, Minato slowly made his way over to his wife. Her eyes were closed and there was a large red wound that pooled around a kunai that had been lodged in her stomach. He sniffled.

It must have been loud enough for her to hear him, because she stirred.

"...Mina-Kun..." She purred softly as she gazed up at him, her eyes small and unfocused as she greeted him. He smiled down at her and knelt in front of her and captured her into a strong, warm embrace.

"Kushina..." He breathed into ear as he held her. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"It's...It's okay." She spoke softly. "The babies are safe..."

"For now." Minato stated, his tone darkening. "The Kyuubi's not gone, yet, Kushina." He informed her. "...And as much as it pains me to say it...But we're going to have to-"

"Seal it." The redhead whispered softly up to him. "I realized as soon as Obito-Kun unsealed it from me that we'd have to seal it away again."

"Obito...Kun?" Minato asked. Kushina nodded to the smoldering pile of bones behind him.

"He was very angry..." She explained. "Very angry...and very sad..." She smiled softly. "He blamed us for everything, you know?" Minato nodded. "...I'd already be dead if it weren't for Naruto. He was the one who saved me...Twice."

"At my behest." Minato stated. "I'm guessing that Naruto's long gone then, huh?"

Kushina chuckled weakly; "No..." She whispered. "I made a deal with him...To stay and help us until the Kyuubi is re-sealed."

"And how can he do that?" Minato asked. Naruto wasn't one to sacrifice his own life for anything.

"By getting you two and your kids closer to the giant Cabbit over there." A familiar voice spoke up from beside them. Minato snapped his eyes toward the deity.

"What did you trade him for this, Kushina?" Kushina knew the blonde Demi-God better than he did, if only because he wouldn't leave her alone after she had given him a human name for nearly a month. She knew exactly how nasty and how petty the young deity could be.

"...She doesn't owe me a thing, Minato." Naruto answered for the redhead. "That masked ass-hat tried to cut in on my future business and paid the price." He left out the part that the man had wounded his pride, as did Kushina. "So, this is my debt to you; I will get you closer to the Kyuubi in order for you to do what ever it is that you need to do to stop it."

"That's it?" Minato asked.

"...Well..." The deity began as he hovered over to the two infants. Minato curled his lips and fingered for a kunai. "That, and helping the twins here in their first big prank...Or three..."

"...You truly are the God of Mischief, aren't you?" Minato asked; hand still held over his kunai pouch.

"Of course..." The blonde smiled up at him. "Now, there's also the price of your wife's survival to add in." He began, his tone becoming as hard as steel. "She'd be dead by now if I hadn't pleaded with my cousin's cousin to leave her be when he came to pick up the ass-hat over there." He motioned toward Obito-Madara's burning corpse. "She made a pact with me-a deal-that will be passed down to your kids." Minato's eyes narrowed as well as darkened. "When I come to call, they will both help me with something; and they will have no choice but to help me. If they don't-and I'll explain everything to them then-then they are mine to do with as I please. If they do help me when I come to call; then I will leave them alone for the rest of their lives. Understand?"

"...A benevolent spirit you're not." The voice of the Sandaime's Kage Bunshin entered the conversation. The blonde boy looked up to it. "But still...You avenged my wife by killing that bastard...I suppose, in a way; my original owes you a favor as well."

Purple and orange eyes flared with glee momentarily before reverting to their usual state.

"I will come to collect when I want, then." The blonde stated. "Now, before the rest of the village goes up in flames, I'd suggest that we hurry!" He didn't wait for an answer or response before grabbing both Kushina and Minato and carefully floating them toward the Kyuubi in the distance; leaving the Sandaime's clone on the ground, watching them as they sped off through the air before dispelling itself.

End Chapter

* * *

All right. Well, I feel as if I started out strong with this chapter; but I feel as if I ended both kind of quickly as well as oddly. Oh well, I don't think that even with a fresh night's worth of sleep I'd be able to do much about it.

This is a new story, duh. I'm writing it to get back into the grove. Don't like the idea, well too bad.

**Gate of Nothingness**: A card from Magic: The Gathering that I have and felt that rather than just another "Oh, help us powerful stranger! Help hold the monster off while I finish the jutsu to save the village!" I figured that I'd do what I did above. I tried to find a Japanese-Romaji translation, but I couldn't.

Names of Minato and Kushina's kids: Kurama because I like it...and honestly; I was tired and wanted to get this up before I both forgot about it and about what I was doing too. Midori: Because Naruko is a cop out to me and I like the color green. I like Orange and purple as well as black; but yeah...I like green. Hey, at least it's not like my sister, she was named after a dog.

Obito-Madara(And am I glad I'm done with that one): I never liked Madara and I don't like Obito now that he's a vengeance hound just like Sasuke. So, I killed them both off. Honestly, he was going to be underpowered compared to some of the beings I was planning on bringing into the story later on, so yeah...he's dead. I do hope I did him some semblance of justice before offing him though. I haven't read the manga in years so I just gleaned some info off of some people who I talk to at places I frequent and kind of went with it.

Skyrim in Naruto: Not a lot of it other than what I've already shown you. The dragons aren't going pop up and neither will the Nords or anything like that. Undead, sure; but I may stylize them after the Forsaken from WoW rather than Skyrim. Why? Because I can(and do) play WoW and I can't play Skyrim.

Where are the other stories?: I'm working on them. Give me a shot. I just got OpenOffice about two weeks ago and have been getting used to it. Geez. Also, please forgive grammar and spelling errors, I'm not used to OpenOffice yet, so...

Where have you been?: Well, my old laptop is just that, old. It takes it almost forty minutes to start up now and I don't like the fact that I have to wait such a long time just to write for a few hours and then shut it down and do the same thing over and over again, waiting longer periods some days or about five minutes less on others. Also, I've been up shit creek with no oars to help me. My car died earlier this year. Had to get a new one. Got a new one and already need to get another new one because the frame is bent and isn't worth fixing it. I've been working at a new job for a few months now and I'm looking for a second part-time job to help myself out a bit. Also, I hate writing on laptop keyboards. I don't know why, but I'm probably going to get a separate keyboard and type with that from now on. All of that plus life just being life and yeah.

Chapter length is about 11k words or so and to be honest; its the longest thing I've written in a two day shot. The first part was the pre-notes and the actual story was written in less than twelve hours. I'm not quite sure I can do that often, but if I can; I'll try.

See ya later.


	2. Chapter 2

Demi-God of Mischief

* * *

This chapter takes place in the future when compared to the last chapter. In this chapter, both Kurama and Midori are healthy and have been sent along somewhat different paths which will be explored and explained a bit further later on in the story. This chapter, however; primarily takes place outside of the Konoahgakure while Naruto is doing some traveling from country to country; seeing who he can aide in return for a debt owed to him.

Character ages in this chapter(and some of them for the remainder of the story) follow closely with my other story, _Kitty_; in which when Naruto in that story was seven or so when one of the main characters of this chapter, Yugito Nii; was sixteen. However, seeing as it's only three years after the Kyuubi was released and resealed; Yugito is only twelve in this chapter.

I don't own Naruto and I don't want to.

* * *

Somewhere along a road to Kumogakure

Three years after the Kyuubi's attack

-o-

She had seen many people in her rather short life, but she had yet to see someone who was as fat and selfish as the man her team was escorting back to Kumogakure from the southern coast. She had seen fat people before, Kumo wasn't the skinniest nation in the world; but most of the heavier people were at least semi decent to the people around them. Even the Akimichi clan from Konohagakure had a reputation for being softies when they weren't out decimating people on the battlefield-and that was saying something, seeing as Kumo and Konoha were throwing blunt kunai at each other behind when no one else thought that they were looking.

But this man, a man who looked like he was in his late thirties, was both as fat as a small cow and as rude as a starving pig who had found itself a trough of slop.

"So, Gato-San..." Even her team's eccentric sensei who couldn't help himself from rapping all day long, found it hard to be as eccentric as he normally was while protecting the fat man through the mountain passes. "...What does your company do?"

"Hmph." The large man grunted as he registered the tall, broad shouldered man's question. A small, dark grin slowly wormed its way onto his face before answering the man. "Well, now; Mr. B." The short man began, earning a small annoyed tick from her sensei, Yugito noted as she walked half a step in front of the large, muscular man. The short man had explained that the term was a formal term that many of his business partners across the seas used when gathered all together. "I run a small shipping company that I started several years ago. I started in Tea Country, in a small town about twenty miles away from the border with Fire country; shipping small loads of fresh fish and shrimp to the surrounding towns."

"He's giving us a monologue, isn't he?" A girl with light blue haired asked as she caught up with Yugito, hefting her backpack higher up onto her back as she fell in step with her.

"Sounds more like the history of his company, Yume." Yugito grunted back as the man briefly mentioned that he began shipping in high valued goods that only people with ridiculous amounts of money would dream of having shipped from one place to another.

"When I turned thirty-three, I had made enough money to move my company north, where I started another shipping port about three times the size of the one I had made in Tea Country and also began to ship items by land, via carts; as well." The short man loved bragging.

"I know I said that I didn't want anything to happen while we're on this mission," A boy with dark hair whispered as he slowed his steps so he could match the steps of his two teammates. "But if I had known that we'd be dealing with this guy for the entire journey, I wouldn't have."

"I could go for a small group of bandits, my self." Yugito agreed softly, her brows furrowing as something that flew along the wind graced her nose as her group rounded the top of a small incline. She stopped and sniffed the air a few times before narrowing her eyes.

"What's up, Yugi-Chan?" The dark haired boy asked, halting his advance. His question stilled Yume's feet and their sensei turned his head away from the short, fat man who was giving them all a history lesson about his company. The fat man himself, who had; at some point during his lecture, had closed his eyes while explaining and came to a stop, but only after he collided with their sensei.

"Ouch!" He cried, rubbing his large, bulbous nose. Opening his eyes, he glared heatedly at the man's back. "What's the big idea, eh?!" He exclaimed loudly.

"Silence." The large man grunted, his tone low and dangerous. Gato snapped his jaw shut with an audible clink as he took a half step away from the large man in front of him. "Yugito...What is it?" The large man asked.

"It's strange, B-Sama..." The blonde haired pre-teen stated as she addresseed her sensei. "I swear that I smelled popcorn."

"...Pop...Corn?" Gato questioned. Yugito nodded. "You made us stop just because you thought you smelled popcorn?" He asked, his fists clenched in rage.

"The scent of popcorn doesn't travel very far unless it's hot, Sir." Yugito debriefed the man. "This isn't the tallest mountain in the range, but it doesn't have a flattened horn, either, so there's no village or town nestled on a cliff, like the some of the mountains around here have. That means one thing: Someone's camped near here...And at this point in time, we have no way of telling who it is. A family or a traveling group, much like ours. A stray group of Konoha-Nin, resting and waiting for further instructions or a group of bandits."

"All of this because you smelled popcorn, eh?" Gato grunted. He snorted. "Whatever...You lot are supposed to protect me, so get to it!" When no one moved, he growled darkly, "Well? What are you waiting for? Snow? Find out what's going on already! I'm not paying you to stand around and twiddle your thumbs!"

"Be silent." B snapped darkly, turning his head toward the fat man behind him, his dark, sunglasses covered glare silencing the man in an instant. Without removing his gaze from the man, he addressed the sole boy of his team. "Yamcha...Sneak a head and find out what's going on. Don't act unless forced to. Return immediately once you find out what's going on. Understand?"

"Got it, Sensei." The dark haired boy nodded once before turning toward his blonde haired teammate. "Which direction is the smell the strongest, Yugi-Chan?"

Yugito smelled the air once more and thought about the direction for a split second, "Directly in front of us. Judging from the strength of the scent, I'd say less than a quarter of a mile down the road."

The dark haired boy flashed her a grin before nodding. "Alright..." He turned back toward the path and began to sprint forward down the road as quiet as he could.

"...I wish I could do that..." Yume exclaimed softly as she watched Yamcha sprint down the road. She looked toward B, a quizzical expression alive on her face; "Are you certain that it's not a kekkei genkai, Sensei?"

"The Raikage doesn't seem to think so." _'Still, running as quietly as a cat tip-toeing toward it's prey is pretty potent.'_ B thought to himself. _'...I hope it's nothing...The sooner we can get down from this mountain, the sooner we can get to the village...The sooner we can get to the village; the sooner we can get rid of this pest.'_ It had been several days now since B had discovered that the large man behind him was a complete and total buzz-kill. He had gone nearly six days since he had rapped aloud and three since he found himself unable to rap inside his own head. _'Maybe, all I need is a good night's rest...'_

-o-

The sound of someone shuffling through a paper bag filled Yamcha's ears as he came to a large, slightly rounded boulder. Pressing his back up against the boulder, the young ninja took several calming breaths before squeezing his eyes shut for a split moment, gathering his nerves.

_'It could be a family.'_ he told himself, remembering what his team mate had informed their fat, piggish client moments before B-Sensei ordered him to go and check on the source of the smell. _'But it could also be a group of wayward Konohagkure ninja, too.'_ Why a group of ninja from any village would make and eat popcorn on a mountain top was far beyond his level of intelligence to grasp. Either they were really dumb, or they were really competent. He hoped that if it was a group of ninja, they were the former.

Calming himself slightly, Yamcha turned around and slowly peered around the side of the boulder.

What he saw would scar him for life.

-o-

"Come out, come out where ever you are!" A lithe, pre-teen looking being called as he floated through the town that had stupidly decided to form on a flat shelf about one-thousand feet up the side of a mountain. Oh sure, the shelf was thick; nearly as thick as an elephant was tall; but that still didn't bring him any comfort in knowing that it was just a rock shelf...And he was practically immortal! Still, someone had decided that it was a great place to start a town on the side of the cliff and stupidly enough, more people and families showed up. "Come on, you stupid shadow!" He snapped from his spatial bubble that hid him from sight as he floated above a small throng of children who all seemed to be wearing fake samurai armor and held up wooden swords over their heads, cheering about the fact that they had managed to kill a demon-a demon in the shape of a small girl with brown hair, who wailed loudly as the boys and girls stood above her and around her cheered.

"No..." The floating blonde growled to himself as he watched the sight from on high. "If he were here, he'd be watching this and laughing his ass off." A frown formulated, "Can shadows laugh their asses off?" Did his shadow even have an ass to begin with? With a small angry sniff, the blonde slowly floated further and further into the sky. _'I should have asked him if he had an ass.'_

Floating off toward another mountain, one that sat nearly a mile away from the mountain town, was a smaller mountain.

-o-

B frowned. It had been several minutes since Yamcha had left to scout ahead of the team, and Gato, their client; was beginning to get angry at the amount of time he had to wait before they could begin moving again. _'I swear to Kami-Sama, if Yamcha doesn't get back soon, I'm going to grab this fat ass by the throat and drop him off the cliff...Client or not, Father will understand...'_ Not being able to rap aloud or in his own mind was slowly whittling away at his sanity...And if he didn't get back to rapping soon, he was going to snap.

"I don't even know why I bothered with you ninja." Gato moaned as he paced back and forth between the ledge and the cliff wall. "It's been nearly seven minutes since that brat's been off scouting. He even ran too. I'd say that he's either been captured or killed by now." There was a sound from behind him, the sound of sandals shuffling against the rock beneath him. Swinging his head and attention toward the sound, he soon found himself staring down at the angry face of one of his pint-sized guards, her large dark eyes clashing with her long blonde hair that fell ever so slightly over her brow as she glared at him.

If he weren't so suddenly scared that the girl was going to hurt him-possibly kill him-he would have taken the advantage of looking down her loose fit top at her budding chest. She made to open her mouth, but as she opened her mouth, a girlish sounding-though still some how blood curdling-scream shot up from down the trail. Gato watched as the girl's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing harshly. He moved to smile at her, to tell her that her comrade was probably dead by now, but was cut off as the girl threw him-not shove or push-but threw him to the ground and shot off down the mountain trail after her teammate, ignoring her sensei and other teammate as she raced off.

"Do want me to go too, Sensei?" Yume asked tentatively as she walked over to B.

"No, Yume." The large man grunted. "We're all going to go."

"Excuse me, B-San." Gato began, collecting himself as he turned to face the large man, hoping that using the native additives to the man's name would calm him down slightly. "I don't think this is the best method to make sure that both your student and your client is alive."

"Honestly," B began, turning his head to face the short man behind him. "I don't care about you."

"W-What?" Gato stuttered. "B-But I'm paying you to keep me safe!"

"I still don't care about you, Gato." The large man growled. "But if something happens to Yamcha or Yugito; I'll pin the blame on you." The large man suddenly pulled out a very sharp, short sword from somewhere Gato hadn't been able to spot and touched the very tip of the blade. "And when I say 'pin the blame on you', I mean I'll pin the blame on you." Gato paled considerably as the meaning filtered through into the dark reaches of his mind. "Do you understand?" It was all Gato could do to not piss himself as he eyed the man's blade. "I'll take your silence as an indication that you do understand."

-o-

Yugito found herself at Yamcha's location quickly enough as she rounded a large boulder that sat along side the mountain wall. Slowing herself to a quick, but still nigh silent walk, she made her way toward her teammate.

He was standing, back against the wall; his body shaking out of pure horror and fear as he stared wide eyed at the empty space between him and her. His wide dark eyes hadn't seemed to notice her yet as she walked slowly toward him, a kunai in hand a she approached.

"Yamcha." She spoke softly to her terrified teammate. The boy was older than her, but not by much; and she knew he had fears that most people in their line of work shouldn't have; but he was a good fighter and was the only person in the village that she knew off who could run flat out and still sound like a cat tip-toeing after a mouse or chipmunk, ready to pounce upon it. Still, despite her effort in trying to reach the boy, he failed to turn his head to look at her. Instead, he continued to stare at the invisible space that was slowly shrinking between the two of them as she moved toward him.

"Yamcha." She tried again, only for her words to fall haplessly upon his temporarily deaf ears. "Yamcha!" She hissed, her tone shorter and slightly louder than the first two times she had tried getting his attention. This time, he words seemed to reach the terrified boy as he slowly turned his head toward her.

"...Y...Yugi..." He stammered, his lower jaw clattering together with his upper jaw as he spoke. "What a-are you doing here!?"

"We heard you scream..." She stated as she closed the gap between the two of them quickly, only for the boy in front of her to hold out a hand in a manner that silently told to her stop.

"S-Stay back!" He managed. "There's a spirit here!" Dark eyes narrowed at him.

"A spirit?" The blonde girl asked, earning a nod from the boy. "There are no such things as spirits, Yamcha!" Was he stuck in a Genjutsu?

"I'm serious!" He shouted at her, his fear giving way to anger. "I'm not kidding, Yugito!"

If there was one thing that Yamcha didn't do, it was call her by her first name. As annoying as it was to have the slightly younger boy calling her 'Yugi-Chan' all the time, it was what the boy did. The only times he had called her Yugito was when she had first met him and she grabbed him by his shirt and hoisted him up off the ground and emasculated him in front of his friends and ordered him to never call her 'Yugi-Chan' again; and the time when she had stumbled into a trap set up by a low level Chuunin team from Konohagakure a year earlier. To hear him snapping at her like that, using her real name and not his pet name for her, meant something was wrong.

_'But spirits?'_ She asked herself. Oh sure, there were oddities in the world-like herself and B-Sensei-but spirits? "What's really going on here, Yamcha?" She asked calmly.

"I followed the trail down here." He began, "As I came up to the boulder, I smelled popcorn; just like you said you did." He managed to move one of his shaking hands away from the wall and point it at the space in front of him, and to the left of her. "I jumped around the corner, ready to defend myself if needed and found a spirit on the ground eating a bag of popcorn!"

Looking around, Yugito found nothing, not even the aforementioned bag of popcorn. Taking a sniff, she could definitely smell it faintly as the odor hung in the air; but she couldn't see it. Turning back to deal with her teammate, Yugito made to ask him where the spirit went when she found herself unable to speak. There, dancing behind her comrade, was the spirit...Dark in color and plastered to the rock wall behind Yamcha, with its dark fingers in its ears and dancing behind him silently. "Y...Yamcha..."

Hearing her faint whisper, Yamcha looked at her large eyes and slowly followed them. Having to turn his head, Yamcha turned his gaze until he found the image of the dancing shade spirit behind him.

"_AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-UUuurggle!"_

The dark haired boy fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth; momentarily dead to the world.

Yugito tore her gaze from the spirit on the wall, who had stopped dancing and started to point at the fainted boy in front of her-and it-and laughed wordless, soundless waves of laughter.

Mouth forming into a snarl, the blonde haired girl drew two kunai from her leg pouches and hurled them at the shadow like spirit, hoping to either scare it or hit it-if such a thing was actually possible.

Both weapons clattered loudly against the rock face before falling un-impressively to the ground below the spirit.

Stopping its laughing, the spirit eyed her for a second before literally jumping from the rock wall, through the air; and diving into the mountain surface beneath her feet. Yugito wasted no time in jumping into the air as the spirit made to grab her by her feet; but missed.

Yugito smirked...But it only lasted for a second.

Instead of grabbing her feet, the spirit moved to the next best part of her body to snag...Her neck...And did it by grabbing her shadow's neck region and then held it there.

Choking harshly, Yugito managed to look down at the spirit who held her in place. If she hadn't seen it jump from one surface to another, through the air, she would have sworn that it was a Nara's doing. But not even the masters of the shadow could do something like this.

Yamcha, it seemed; wasn't lying.

Mustering her strength, as her vision began to swim slightly, she formed a mouthful of spit and then messily pushed it out of her mouth, letting it hit the ground where the spirit was standing on, choking her.

It landed with a wet, disgusting 'splat' sound and for a moment, the spirit stopped. It loosened it's grip slightly as it reached for the area of its 'body' where the girl's saliva had landed and brought a shadowy strand of wet away from it's body and looked at it. Sucking in a breath of air, Yugito started to squirm when she realized that she had managed to get the spirit to stop choking her; trying to break free of its mystical grip.

Unfortunately for her, the spirit quickly strengthened it's grip around her shadow's throat, cutting off any and all air from her lungs. As he vision began to fade to black, the last thing Yugito saw before complete darkness, was the spirit pulling its arm back-pulling her body with it through the air.

There was a blinding flash of pain that encompassed her body and then nothing.

-o-

"Oh come on!" The blonde being growled as he soared from the lower sections of the smaller mountain he had launched himself toward earlier, speeding around the mountain as fast as he could, looking for his shadowy counterpart. "I've got places to go, people to see; people to trick and debts to collect..."

As he slowly worked his way up the mountain, his circling becoming quicker and quicker as the mountain lost mass the further it climbed into the sky, a rather chilling but girlish scream broke out over the mountain. Eyes widening slightly, the blonde looked toward where the noise was the loudest. Eying a part of the mountain nearly two hundred feet above his current location, the blonde being did his best impression of an upside-down dive and sped straight up into the air.

Soaring upward, the blonde moved his eyes left and right, up and down for the source of the scream.

It didn't take too long for him to find where the scream had uttered to the world. As he came up upon a small trail etched into the side of the mountain, the blonde being came upon the sight of a young boy with long black hair, bent over backwards, a foamy froth protruding from his mouth, his eyes rolled backward, with only the bottom portion of his irises showing.

Off to his right, slumped up against the mountain wall, was a young blonde haired teen-though he wasn't quite sure if it was a girl or a boy; though if the way that the hair band in the teen's hair was placed, as well as the color of said hair band-was anything to go by, he would have to say that the pre-teen was a girl. His sight didn't stay on the teen's body for too long as the sound of footsteps quickly filled the air.

Turning head toward the oncoming noise, he popped out of his veil and landed on the rocky surface.

He wasn't too concerned with whomever or whatever was running down the trail...But maybe, just maybe; they had seen something that could lead him to his shadow.

-o-

Killer B, rapping Jounin sensei of Kumogakure and leader of team Beast-as some back home liked to call it-groaned deeply as the man he and his team were guarding nearly stumbled over his own feet as they came up behind a large boulder that seemed to serve no real purpose other than to block part of the trail around the mountain side. _'Father wouldn't be _too_ mad if he suddenly...stumbles off the cliff, would he?'_

"Sensei!" Yume cried out, stopping less than three feet ahead of him, pointing to something behind the boulder. His shielded eyes narrowed as he quickly jumped atop of the boulder and looked down at whatever it was that Yume was pointing at.

What he found was both shocking as well as confusing.

There, in front of him, several yards away; were his two students; both of whom were unconscious. And not too far away from the two of them, stood a lithe, young blonde teen who was currently looking at both of his student's in a manner that didn't seem all too friendly.

He reached for a blade as he opened his mouth to garner the boy's attention, when the short, fat, balding man behind him spoke first, rounding the boulder.

"Oh great." The man grunted as he took in the sight of his two students and the blonde boy who seemed content on ignoring them in favor of studying Yamcha's and Yugito's bodies. "Someone's gone and offed them...So sad." B bit back a low growl as Yume gasped at the careless tone the man used to describe the scene in front of them. "Hey, you! Boy!" He shouted, trying to gain the boy's attention. Again, the boy seemed content on ignoring them as he turned his head toward the other end of the trail. Gato, probably not used to being ignored by anyone; took a couple of steps forward and tried again; only this time, much louder than he had been before. "HEY!" The business man yelled, "DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU LITTLE URCHIN!"

"Shut up." Was the boy's reply, though he made no move to physically acknowledge the man.

"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUT UP, BOY!" Gato took another step forward, his fat fists clenched as tight as he could clench them as he shouted at the boy. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I AM GATO, OWNER OF GATO SHIPPING INCORPORATED!" The man's voice bounced off of the cliff walls as he shouted at the boy. "You'd do well to shut your mouth when I speak, boy!"

It wasn't as loud as his shouting, but apparently it had the desired effect on the boy who stood in front of them. With quick motion, the blonde boy snapped his head in their direction and leveled an other worldly glare of menacing purple and demonic dull orange glowing ocular orbs at the man-and by proxy-the rest of the group. "I thought I told yo to 'shut up'." He repeated.

The way that Gato backed away from the teen would be burned forever inside of Killer B's mind...And the stench of the man soiling himself would forever be burnt into his nose as the tallest person on the trail looked over at his client briefly and found the man's expensive suit growing a new, wet spot that ran from his crotch region, all the way down his legs and dribbling out by the cuffs near his ankles.

If Yamcha and Yugito weren't in such a state and the boy didn't seem seem to be the cause of their unconsciousness, then B would have laughed at the man's state.

Unfortunately, the boy seemed like he was the only cause of his student's current condition.

With a large hand that rested itself on Gato's right shoulder, B grabbed the man and tossed him backwards; earning both a squeal of fright as well as a groan of pain from the man when he landed.

"Boy..." B began, fingering the hilt of one of his various blades; B glared back into the boy's other worldly eyes as they zeroed in on his dark eyes. "...Do you know what happened to my two students?" He asked slowly. When the boy scoffed lightly and turned away from him, B lowered himself into a stance and held a hand out toward Yume. The blue haired girl nodded silently and backed away from her sensei.

"It appears as if they got their asses handed to them." The boy began, all humor devoid from his voice. "Of course, as to how...I don't know."

"Really?" B asked, not believing the boy. "Because the way I see it, the only person who was here when they got their 'asses handed to them', is you."

"Would you believe me if I told you that I got here perhaps twenty seconds before you and your group did?" B's posture didn't change. Sighing to himself, the blonde closed his eyes briefly and shook his head. "I thought not."

The boy quickly returned his gaze to the larger man and held it there, neither of them talking or moving during the process.

"_...Gak!"_ The sound of someone coughing split the air like an ax splitting wood. All parties-save for Gato-found themselves looking at the black haired boy who apparently recovered enough to wake up from his impromptu nap. Spitting out the drying foam from his mouth, along with coughing several more times; the boy slowly shook his head as he awoke.

It took him several moments, kneeling on the hard path beneath him to realize that he was awake, and several more for the memories of what happened to him to come back to him.

With an almighty squeal of girlish sounding fear, the boy jumped to his feet and glanced all around him, staring at the rock wall where Yugito now lay in a crumbled heap. "Yugi-Chan!" He cried out before stumbling over to the blonde girl.

"Yamcha!" Yume called out to her teammate.

Turning his head in her direction, Yamcha ignored the blonde haired teen glaring at his sensei and addressed his team; "Watch out, guys!" He exclaimed. "There's some sort of spirit on the loose!"

"A spirit?" The blonde teen snapped, his other worldly eyes piercing Yamcha's black orbs, sending violent spasms down the boy's spine as he stared at him. "What did it look like?"

"Don't answer him, Yamcha!" B ordered, drawing a blade.

"Tell me, mortal;" the blonde boy began, taking a step toward the black haired pre-teen, who quivered like a leaf in a typhoon as the blonde approached him. "What did this spirit look like?"

"Take one more step, boy; and I'll run you through." B warned, drawing another of his sharp, stiletto styled blades with his left hand. The blonde stopped his slow advance and glanced at B for several seconds before smirking with a loud, audible sniff. B's eyebrows narrowed at the reaction.

"You can't do any real damage to me, mortal." The blonde stated slowly. "Compared to me, you're a mosquito. Just an annoyance."

"If I'm just an annoyance," B began; "then this shouldn't hurt a bit!" With wordless grunt of effort, the alrge, muscular man launched himself at the blonde haired teen; his two short swords aimed for different points on his body.

Even behind his shaded eyes, he B could tell from the way that the other worldly eyed teen held no fear of him as he sped toward him. In fact, instead of falling backward in fear like many of his enemies had done in the past; the blonde merely smirked at him before snapping his fingers.

Without a moments time lapsing between the snapping of the blonde's fingers and B thrusting his blades at the teen, B suddenly found himself wielding not two stilettos in his hands; but two live carp. The live fish flopped around in his grasp as they struggled to breath the air around them as B thrust them at the blonde teen in front of him.

Both fish impacted against the teen harmlessly as they continued to flop around in the air, struggling to get to the nearest pool of water-which, sadly; was nearly three miles away.

As B stared at the sight of the two fish in his hands, unable to let go of their tails as they flopped about; he could feel and hear both his students and his client's fearful expressions.

"W-What the?!" Yume shouted as Yamcha stuttered slightly before collapsing against the stone floor beneath him, having fainted once again at the sight of his sensei's weapons turning into live carp in front of him.

The only thing about the scene that had just barely transpired that was remotely humorous in his eyes, was the sound of Gato's piggish squeal of surprise and then falling backward and groaning in pain. Despite the pig of a man hurting himself, B didn't laugh. He had more pressing matters to tend to right now.

_'This boy...'_ He began, taking in the flopping fish in his hands, who were just barely beginning to lose some of their strength as they continued to flop about. _'...He's no ordinary boy.'_ "You turned my swords into fish." He stated as calmly as he could.

"That I did." The teen replied, smiling up at him in a manner that made him think of an arrogant, pompous child talking back to an adult because they felt as if they were better than they were. "Although, even if I hadn't turned them into fish, you still wouldn't have done any damage to me."

"Is that so?" B asked, thinking about his other swords on his person. Surely the boy couldn't turn them all into fish...Could he?

"I should just kill you, you know." The boy began, earning the man's attention, his shaded gaze snapping up to his mutli-colored eyes as they dug into his dark orbs through his sunglasses. "But I'm in a bit of a hurry and though killing you would be much easier then compared to the man I killed three years ago in Konohagakure was; it would still take far too much time. Especially since I still have to find something of mine before leaving."

"...And what exactly, are you looking for?" B asked, hoping that it was Gato behind him.

"My shadow." Was the blonde's simple reply.

B looked down at the blonde's feet and felt his eyes widen on their own. He could see his shadow, though it was slim for the time of day and the position of the sun; but it was there. When he moved took in the blonde's shadow, he couldn't find it.

It was gone.

He snapped his gaze to the boy's eyes and found them narrowed at him in a thin veil of amusement.

"What are you?" He asked slowly.

"I'll tell you what I am, human..." The boy began, his mouth twisting into a long, twisted grin. "If you help me find my shadow."

"And if I don't help you find your shadow?" B asked, weary of the boy in front of him.

"Nothing." The blonde answered. "However, if you do help me...Then I owe you a favor..."

"What kind of favor?" B asked hesitantly.

"Anything you want, Sir." The blonde replied, bowing slightly. "Like for instance," he took a half step away from B and snapped his fingers. As soon as the blonde snapped his fingers again, the two exhausted carp in his hands turned back to normal stilettos. "Or, I can help you get back at someone who's crossed you but you can't quite do it yourself...Like, say; a superior of yours or a person who's several hundred miles away from you..." He quickly turned his head toward Gato behind him and Yume and let his grin turn into a smirk. "Or...I help your client over there have...oh, I don't know...an accident...per say..."

B slowly turned his head toward Gato and thought about it for a second. The man had been a major buzz-kill from the beginning of the mission onward, and the little voice in his head that was egging him on to kill the man was slowly becoming stronger and stronger...But if he were to kill him, then he would be in trouble...If someone else killed him...

Gato flinched violently as the dark, isnane smile slowly stretched across the Jounin's face as he looked at him over his shoulder, and jumped behind Yume and cowered behind her; hoping beyond all hope that the man wouldn't do anything to him whilst he cowered behind one of his students.

To her credit, Yume didn't think all too much about her sensei's disturbing smile. It was something she had seen before.

"So...How about it, eh?" The blonde whispered softly. "I have somewhere to be, and I can't go without my shadow. You help me find my shadow, and I will; in return, help you when you see fit to do so." B turned to look at him.

"...Whenever I see fit?" B asked, earning a nod from the blonde. "And...Does it have to be a prank? Or murder?"

"No...If you wish, I could steal a painting for you and leave in your house if you really desired." The blonde stated. "Hell, I've even had someone ask me for a bowl of udon in return for helping me find my shadow before."

B mulled it over. He tore his eyes away from the blonde being in front of him and stared at his two unconscious students for a moment.

"If you're worried about them being dead, don't be. My cousin's cousin works for the Death God as a deputy Reaper and since he hasn't been here yet; or any of his co-workers for that matter; they're still alive...Just...You may want to keep an eye on the blonde one. She seems to have hit her head pretty hard." The blonde boy stated.

"..." B looked back at him for a few second before opening his mouth. "...Anything I want?"

"Anything you want...Well, short of bringing the dead back to life or saving someone who is already dying." The blonde smiled sheepishly for a second; "I'm not allowed to do that anymore."

"Anymore?"

"I kind of saved a woman in Konohagakure a few years ago who was dying as a result from giving birth to twins and my cousin's cousin's boss kind of yelled at him to yell at me about that..." Purple and orange eyes closed for a second before opening again. "Oh, and I can't force people to fall in love."

"Another restriction?" B asked. The being shook his head.

"No...It's just, I've never had any use for romance...And my kind doesn't really date around-if you know what I mean. Plus, there's the fact that I'm only seven hundred years old or so...or was it five hundred?" The blonde cut away, thinking about his age before shrugging his shoulders. "Either way, I'm way too young to think about courtship!"

"...But anything else is fine?" B asked. The blonde nodded. "Then it's a deal. We'll help you find your shadow...As soon as those two come to." He nodded toward his two students lying on the floor of the trail, holding out a large tanned hand.

The blonde caught the offered hand with one of his own and shook it, his eyes smoldering with power as the contract took hold. "It's a deal!" he chimed. "My name is Naruto, by the way." He added.

"Killer B." The muscular man stated as he shook the smaller hand.

"Well, alright, B-San." Naruto began as he let go of the man's hand. "The contract as been made. I will accompany you and your group of peons until my shadow has been found, caught and returned to me. Then, at that time; if you don't wish to request your favor from me at that time, all you have to do is call for me."

"Call you?"

"Yes...Of course, I'll explain how to do so later." Naruto stated. "I'll also inform you on a number of details that may or may not affect your favor at that time as well. Understand?"

"Understood."

"Good..." Naruto grinned as he walked around the man and headed toward the short man behind Yume. "It's time to go stand with the guard..." The dark expression in his eyes as he stared at the short man was not exactly welcomed as he walked toward Gato. "...And get to know Tubby too, I suppsoe."

-o-

As the blonde with the evil eyes walked toward him, Gato huddled even further behind the blue haired pre-teen, despite her trying to move so he wasn't effectively staring at her rear while he cowered behind her; Gato gulped fearfully.

For some reason, the boy who had turned the Jounin's weapons into fish and then back into weapons; was walking toward him, smiling darkly at him as he closed the gap.

"W-What are you doing?" He chocked out, glancing at the Jounin, who essentially ignored him in favor of walking over to the two Genin who were out of commission.

"Hi!" The blonde greeted the girl, though he kept glancing at him. "My name is Naruto...And your sensei over there has agreed to help me find something of importance that belongs to me. What's your name?"

"Y-Yume..." The girl stammered as she took in his oddly colored eyes.

"Yume means 'Dream', right?" The blonde asked. Yume nodded. "A pretty name for a pretty girl..."

"T-T-Thanks..." The girl stuttered, blood rushing to her cheeks as the blonde embarrassed her slightly.

"And you're Gato, eh?" The blonde addressed the large man behind her. Gato didn't respond. "My name is Naruto..." The blonde's orange eye began to glow slightly and words that didn't pass over the boy's lips began to fill Gato's head. _"We're going to have lots of fun, you and I..."_

"Guh!?"

"_Oh yes...You see, I'm a petty being with longer than normal ears-when compared to you humans, that is-and because they're a bit long, they tend to pick up noise a bit better than normal ears. Your little outburst earlier nearly gave me a headache..."_ The blonde leaned in a bit closer and grabbed his left arm and hoisted up from his hiding spot, much to Yume's relief, if the way her shoulders sagged slightly as she expelled a breath of air. _"Just remember, Gato-Chan...Pay back is a bitch."_

End Chapter

* * *

Alright, it's been a small while since I uploaded the first chapter. I've got to say, I was expecting less compliments and more complaints about the way that Naruto is in this story. It's reassuring to know that there are some people out on FFNet who are still into AU stories that break the mold in a different sense than what some would think.

Anyway; thanks to all of you who commented.

I'm working on another story that I may hope to get to upload before Thanksgiving(US) but I work at resort and the week of Thanksgiving is one of the busiest in the year(considering it's not a purely religious holiday and it's centered around family and food-and the resort has a walk in dinner policy, which means even if you aren't staying there, you can eat there like a normal restaurant.) I've been told that I will be working anywhere from 10 to 16 hours on Thanksgiving Day alone. So yeah...I don't have too much time to write at the moment.

Also, I've been sick the last couple of days(today not excluded) so if things seem kind of off kilter; then feel free to attribute it to me being sick. Or, just blame me. That works too.

A quick reason for why I didn't continue with the day after the Kyuubi attack...I tried to do that, and for three days I couldn't make it feel like it was a humorous scenario versus a potentially hostile scenario. Then I tried a few years into the future following Kurama(the boy) and Midori; but then I was attacked by plot bunnies wearing troll masks and I scrapped it. For now. I think I sat around thinking about how to begin this chapter for about three days before I found something that remotely worked. Then it took me a few days to write it with work and all, I haven't been able to do as much writing as I wanted.

...And playing Terraria and a bit of WoW.

I'm not going to make any plans for the next chapter, I feel as if I may write myself into a plot hole if I do that, so no. I will, however; tell you what happened to Kurama(the boy) and Midori:

Kurama ended up with half of the Kyuubi sealed within him and the other half within Midori. Kurama got the light half and Midori got the dark half. Not that it makes too much difference what part ended up sealed in who.

They aren't going to be mirrors of each other, in case people are wondering. And no, just because they have one half of the demon sealed within each of them; they are not going to be having an incestuous relationship to 'fuse' the two halves together. That's gross.

Also, I've always thought of Gato as someone who'd sell someone into any sort of slave trade, be it labor or sex. I've also always thought of him as a bit of a pedophile. I don't know what it is about his character that makes me feel that way; but yeah.

Anyway, I'll write at you all later.


	3. Chapter 3

Demigod of Mischief

* * *

"You're late, Gato." A deep voice rang out across a large, rectangular table that sat in the middle of a large office conference room. The shortest man, and one of the largest men; at least when it came to weight, grumbled something as he came to rest at a large, black office chair. Pulling it out, the man sat himself down and made himself comfy before replying to the remark that had greeted him as soon as he made it passed the guard at the door to the room.

"My two week trip through the mountains turned into a nightmare." The shortest man replied darkly. "The team of shinobi I hired to see me here stopped along the way to fight 'spirits' and help others who belong nowhere else but a graveyard."

"That, Gato-San; is why I hire vagabond and ronin." A slim man with glasses and light brown hair began from the other side of the table. "Much more eager to please than teams of ninja."

"And for a few extra Ryo, they'll make waste of anyone in their path, too." Another man; this one muscular and slightly tanned added from his place near the furthest end of the table.

"I know." Gato griped. "Unfortunately for me, there's a war going on and I'd rather pay the extra money to hire a man known throughout the land as a monster. It helps deter stupid people from attacking poor, defenseless CEO's like myself, you know."

"But they cost a lot more, and they pick up people no one cares about." The slim man retorted. "No matter, what's done is done."

"Indeed." Came the deep voice of the man at the very end of the table as he sat in the shadows, his hands clasped in front of him. "We'll talk more later, Gato." The weight of an unspoken threat hung heavily in the air as the man spoke the words. "We've wasted too much time waiting for you. We need to get done and quickly. The market is beginning to shift again."

"I've noticed a drop in prices myself." The slim man agreed, his tone changing to a more business fashion with a curt nod. "The last two slaves I sold I only made a mere twenty-two thousand off of-for _both_ of them!"

"Maybe you over estimated what they were worth?" The muscular man commented slowly, looking at the slim man, who leveled a hidden glare back at him.

"My slaves, unlike yours; are taken care of. A bit of extra cash to make sure that they are fit for work, no matter the elements or conditions; means several thousand extra in profit." The slim man replied slowly.

"I sell my slaves fast." The muscular man retorted. "Unlike you, I don't have the ability to keep them near me for long lengths of time. I need to get rid of them quickly."

"And that's why you don't make as much off of them as we do." Gato jibed. "I may not spend as much as my _friendly_ competition on my slaves; but I do make sure that they won't die within a few weeks after purchase."

"Like I said, Gato;" The muscular man growled, "I don't have the luxury of spending time on my slaves. I steal them from the crowds, kidnap them from their homes; drug them where they stand and then I fence them as soon as possible. If I wait for them to be rid of whatever aliment they have; that means the more likely I'm going to get caught."

"Then maybe an entertainer isn't the best job for you." Gato replied, sending the man a taunting smirk. "It's much easier to kidnap and sell when selling is your main business. Just package them up in a crate, make sure that the idiots in charge of feeding them and cleaning them do their jobs and no ones the wiser!" Nothing ruined good slave trade like dead, decaying bodies. As much as he disliked it, even he had to have his ships stop for government check points. Money could go a long way, but the smell of the dead alert many more who weren't in on the job.

"It doesn't matter how much money you spend on them or how much time you have before selling them." The man at the end of the table interrupted. "In fact, it's not even about how many you manage to sell. The problem is that someone's been giving up key locations along the slaving lines and because of that, the trade is slowing."

"I'm afraid I haven't had any problems with the main land lines." Gato began slowly. "I don't ship by land anymore. Haven't since the Kumo-Konoha Shadow War started."

"Funny that the war started around the same time the trade lines began to attract samurai and shinobi attention." The slim man stated, earning a dark look from Gato. "Of course, you never traded much along the main land anyway, have you Gato?"

"I own a shipping fleet." Gato began softly, though his tone was of ice. "And while I do own a few land line shipping lanes; primarily through Hi no Kuni; there is less of a chance for a slave to escape if they're out over open water. Less of a chance people will find them and help them."

"That and because you're shipping boys and girls off to people in other nations." The muscular man countered roughly. Gato merely shrugged in response.

"Sex slaves are even more profitable than work slaves." The fat man stated. "If it makes you feel any better, I also ship opium and other narcotics on my ships too."

"Enough." The man at the end of the table snapped, causing the three other man to close their mouths. "Right now I don't care about your trades and I don't care how it gets done. The only thing I care about is finding out how the trade lines are becoming discovered by the law enforcements of the countries the lines pass through and putting him or her to death."

Before anyone could say another word, the sound of someone knocking on the door called out to the four men.

"What?" The man at the end of the table snapped.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, Wamu-Sama." A slightly muffled voice called through the door. "But one of our clients is demanding a word with you."

"Tell them I'm busy." The man at the end of the table growled.

"I would-and have-but he's very insistent about seeing you right now." The voice replied.

"Tell whoever it is that I've killed for more important reasons." Wamu ordered.

There was a pause before the sound of something heavy hitting the door to the meeting room. "I'd suggest someone opens this flimsy door before I break it down." A new, dark and and slightly psychotic voice drifted through the door.

Gato felt his eyes widen in mild shock as Wamu-the leader of their little group-someone who he had never seen budge at any threat leveled at him, jump up from his place and rushed over to the door. The man opened the door and quickly stepped through it, shutting it behind him. As soon as the door closed, Gato turned his gaze to the other two men at the table and raised an eyebrow quizzically at them.

He was met with matching shrugs of their shoulders.

-o-

"I'm sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for, Naruto-San." Yugito apologized as she bowed formally to him as the two blondes, Yamcha and Yume stood outside of the Raikage's office.

The odd eyed blonde merely huffed at the apology. "It's not your fault." Naruto stated. "It's not an easy thing to find."

"Still, I'm sorry that we weren't of any help." Yugito pressed on.

"Maybe if we had more information about what you were looking for, we'd have been more help, Naruto-San." Yume stated, blushing slightly as she addressed him.

"I'm surprised that you haven't noticed it earlier." Naruto began, smirking slightly. What did he care if three more people knew about him? It would either cause more chaos, which was something he loved watching; or it would cause the black haired boy to faint again-which was just as funny as causing chaos. To him, the situation was a win-win.

"Noticed what?" Yume asked, frowning slightly as she were being reprimanded for something she had missed or had gotten wrong on a test of some sort.

Naruto thought about it for a few moments. True, he didn't care if more and more people found out about him...But he knew someone would. _'I got in trouble for letting three people see me last time...I'd hate to see what will happen if I let three more see me? Especially if I'm not making contracts with them.'_ Demi-God or not, there were certain rules he had to follow if he didn't want to end up stripped of most of his power and turned into a nameless castle slave, fallen from grace like his one cousin, several hundred times removed. _'I wonder if he's still alive?'_ Being a target dummy for a group of Dremora wielding bows and spells would not be fun. Or painless.

After several more moments of thought, the blonde shook his head. "Never mind." He answered. "It's not too important."

"Oh..." Yume stated dejectedly. "...Well," She turned back to look at the clock on the wall that hung near the door to the Raikage's office; "Sensei said that we _could_ go home if we wanted...And I haven't had a shower in a few weeks..."

"It's okay, Yume." Yume looked toward Yugito. "You can go. I'll stay here and wait for Sensei." The blonde girl turned from the blunette's slowly retreating form and looked at Yamcha too. "You better get home too, Yamcha. Kuririn saw you when we entered the village earlier. You're going to get in a lot of trouble if you don't head home soon."

"I can take whatever Kuririn throws at me, Yugi-Chan!" The black haired boy beamed, striking a pose that involved holding out his left arm and making a muscle along with giving birth to a slightly cocky glint that formed in his dark colored eyes. Naruto wondered idly if he was trying to impress the blonde girl with the show, but from the way that the blonde haired girl stared at him showed that it hadn't worked.

"But can you take whatever your Sensei at the Kame dojo throws at you?" Yugito asked, her right eyebrow raising slightly. As if someone had thrown a bucket of water on a match, Yamcha's bravado fizzled as he thought about what awaited him at this 'Kame Dojo' that Yugito had mentioned. As the boy thought about it even further, his face slowly began to turn an ashen white as something from memory played over and over in his head. Yugito, on the other hand, smirked. "I thought not."

_'Kind of devious...'_ Naruto told himself as he watched the girl play the slightly younger boy.

"O...On second thought," the black haired boy began slowly; "I think I should head back home...Master Mutaito will be wondering where I am, hehehe..." The boy didn't stick around to see if Yugito bid him farewell before turning on his heel and heading for the stairwell as if the dogs of Hell had been unleashed after him. "Out of the way, Yume-Chan!" He called as he met the blunette somewhere on the stairs as he ran.

"He's not very brave, is he?" Naruto asked aloud as he watched the boy vanish.

Yugito shook her head, "No, he's not...At least, not at first." She turned to stare at the otherworldly blonde next to her. "In a pinch, he's dependable though."

_'Unless said 'pinch' is fighting against someone who turns swords into fish or fighting spirits...'_ Naruto told himself. Mentally pushing the boy out of his thoughts, Naruto turned to look at the door that led entrance to the Raikage's office in front of him. "How long are debriefings?"

"Generally? About ten minutes or so." Yugito rolled her right shoulder slightly, "However; B-Sensei is the Raikage's younger brother, and now that he's been liberated of Gato; he's probably rhyming up a storm..." Naruto turned and gave her a questioning look, "B-Sensei normally either rhymes or raps everything. It's just when he's in the presence of someone who makes him irritable does he not."

"Like Gato?" Naruto pondered. Yugito nodded. "Well, the fat man was a bit of creeper..." Men his age didn't stare at children in such manners. He was capable of one-way telepathy, but it was clearly evident what was on the man's mind as they made their way slowly down the mountain.

"I think 'a bit' is a 'bit' of an understatement." Naruto glanced at the girl beside him. "I believe the term that Yume and some of the other girls at the academy would use is, 'like, a total creeper'." Naruto cocked his head at the girl slightly. The only academy he had been to was the one in Konohagakure, following Kushina after making a deal with her to help her in pranking some kid in her class after she had helped him get his shadow back.

_'It would be ignorant of me to think that only Konohagakure had an academy.'_ He told himself blandly. Still, the lingo she had quoted wasn't something he was used to. _'I bet Mimi would know what that means.'_

-o-

Wamu walked rigidly back to his seat in the meeting room, ignoring the looks on the faces of his colleagues as he went. It didn't go amiss that the man was limping ever so slightly. Whoever had interrupted the meeting didn't seem to mind too much that he had injured a man who had enough money to call a hit on even a Kage level shinobi. Granted, Wamu wasn't stupid enough to put a hit out on such a target; but still, if he wanted to, he could afford it.

_'Thankfully his guest decided to leave.'_ Gato told himself as Wamu grabbed his chair and lowered himself in to it. There was a soft sound of someone groaning as the man sat in the chair.

"Sorry for the intrusion." The man began slowly, his eyes narrowed crossly. "One of my clients decided to come ask me why his slaves haven't been delivered to him, personally."

"Sounds tough." The slim man remarked, frowning at Wamu.

"Never make a deal with the Hojo." Wamu warned. "Besides money, it will get you only a few things. One of which is a rather pesky-and exceedingly nasty-fly named Fumma Kotaro."

"Is he a ninja?" The muscular man asked. Wamu's reply was to narrow his eyes. "I'll take that as a 'Yes', then."

"B-Rank shinobi, no village, self taught." Wamu explained. "He is the Hojo's pet ninja and is as sadistic as they come."

"I understand that most high powered families have pet ninja," Gato began softly; "but only a few of them actually use them for anything other than guards and messengers."

"The Hojo are an old clan, Gato." Wamu countered. "They are an old clan with many enemies, though most of those enemies believe them to be dead. The Hojo have taken claim of a small group of mountains north of Iwagakure and have been building an underground super castle for the last twenty or so years. They don't use anyone from their own tiny province to build it. Instead, they kidnap architects and force them to design new additions to their super castle, then kill them after they get what they want. The main construction force is made up of slaves bought through several different slave trades, mine included."

"Could they be the ones leaking information about our lines, then?" The slim man questioned. "It could make a lot of sense, you know. Destroy your counterparts one-by-one, leaving their clients to only buy from them."

"No one crosses the Hojo." Wamu's head shrunk down behind his newly clasped hands that sat in front of him. "Everyone is too afraid of Kotaro and his troupe."

"...Why are they building a super castle inside a mountain range, anyway?" Gato questioned. "If they're in hiding, it's not likely that they'll show themselves anytime soon...At least, not until their finished with the castle..."

"Especially if they're as paranoid of being discovered as they seem to be." The muscular man added. "...Unless they're almost done and are cutting off loose ends."

Wamu's eyes narrowed dangerously, "I wouldn't put it past them." He conceded darkly. "However, why would they be tipping off local authorities?"

"To deflect the attention away from themselves." Gato stated. "When a new captain of the guard comes into office, I generally ship out a few smaller, unmarked vessels with small amount of opium into port to see if the man is flaky or not. If he is, I have a few of my men make him a deal; a small cut of the profit in order to send my goods-of all kinds-through to port. If he's not flaky, and more importantly, not crooked; then I merely stop shipping opium through that port. It's harder to get as much flow through smaller, personally owned ports; seeing as only a few of them have the capability to unload the amount I ship; and profit gain slows slightly, but I don't have to worry about a goody-two-shoes gumming up the works. By tipping off local authorities about the slave routes, or routes used to ship slaves along; they're getting rid of potential loose ends as well as anyone who'd be willing to sell them out for a pretty Ryo."

"Especially if they're building an army..." Wamu whispered. "And knowing about their past, I guarantee that they are."

"Are they trying to start another samurai war?" The Slim man asked.

"They aren't trying to start a war," Wamu shook his head. "They want total domination."

-o-

"You don't have to follow me, you know." Naruto informed the girl who had decided to follow him from just outside the Raikage's office to middle of the mountain village. "Besides, I thought that you were going to wait for your sensei?"

Dark eyes darted off toward the left as the two blondes walked through the village at a slow pace; "I was going to...However, you are a foreigner and as such, you can't be left to wander the village by yourself. Especially if it's because your looking for something. Someone might think that you're spying on us and try and kill you before asking you who you are and what you're doing."

"So you're following me to keep me safe then?" Naruto inquired. When the girl nodded, albeit somewhat haltingly, a small smirk wormed its way onto his face. "Well then, I hope you're ready for anything then, Yugito-San..."

"What do you mean by that?" The girl asked, her eyes narrowing slightly at the tone of his voice-a teasing, humorous sound.

"While it's true that I am looking for something, I also had some business here in Kumogakure." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't fully true either. He had, several years ago, made a contract with a woman in the village. 'Scratch my Back and I'll Scratch Yours' worked both ways. Especially if that person begged for assistance. However, this calling card wasn't something that was going to be collected now. Oh no. The woman he had decided to visit until he found his shadow was a remarkable seals master...And he had some coin to burn. _'As for punishment for revealing yet another human to our kind...Well, I'll just turn her into a debt.'_ Yugito was strange for a girl her age from what he had seen so far. She didn't seem to be interested in boys and she didn't have much to offer to Yume when she was talking to Yamcha about why boys felt the need to burp as loud as they could and then not excuse themselves afterward. Instead, she had mainly berated the boy for being a pig and then let Yume continue scolding him. She also had the air of a grown, solider about her. If something wasn't an order, he wasn't sure if she would do it. _'Even her following me is because of an order...'_ An order he hadn't heard, but still an order.

"What kind of business?" Yugito asked, cocking her head slightly to her right; something that Naruto had seen many different species of animal do when seeing something they weren't entirely sure about or what it meant or did.

"Just grabbing a few souvenirs, that's all." He answered nonchalantly.

"Family?"

"Nope." He shook his head. Only a few members of his family truly deserved a gift...Well, unless that gift was death...Then all but two or three of them deserved it. The conversation fell silent as the two 'teens' walked through the village proper, which somehow had turned into something of a spectacle for several groups of villagers who stopped and stared at them. Idly, as they turned down a smaller street that led toward a series of smaller houses and shops, Naruto wondered if they were staring at his oddly colored eyes or not. _'Strange though...'_ He told himself as the duo walked along, _'I feel as if I've done something like this before...'_

-o-

Surrounded by the wooden boards that made up the walls of her shop, a woman with long black hair, tied in a ponytail that reached down to the small of her back; hovering a few scant inches away from her waistline; carefully traced a series of several complicated markings onto a fairly small, tea cup sized piece of paper with a small headed brush and black ink. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and her dark eyes focused solely on the task at hand as she worked her art.

Not even the sounds of the front door to the shop she worked in tore her away from the task at hand, nor did the sounds of footfalls as they echoed down the hallway and stopped outside the door to her work room.

"I'm busy." She snipped through the closed door, preemptively informing whomever had come to visit her.

"When will you be done?" Dark eyes narrowed further as the sound of a slightly familiar voice floated through the door.

"If you don't leave me be, then who knows. I may just screw up and have to start all over again...Or just blow the entire shop to hell." She brought her hand back and lightly touched the tip of the brush to the well of ink that sat beside her before bringing it back to paper. "But if you leave me alone, probably less than five minutes."

"We'll be waiting, then."

-o-

"I don't know whether or not I should believe you, B." A's voice left his person in a reproachful manner. "The boy that your team ran into along the mountain path turning your swords into fish seems awfully fishy to me."

"Nice!" B chimed, not caring in the slightest that his older brother glared at him harshly for calling his unintended pun. "But that's how it be, sometimes."

"Please speak like a civilized human, B." It was a waste of time-and wishes-but much like his younger brother's consistent need to rhyme and or rap; so too had his need to try and correct him. "And what about Gato? He seemed far to unhappy for my tastes." The man was a disturbing man...But the man had pockets...Deep pockets. "I assume that the meeting with the boy wasn't to his liking? Or did something else happen?" Besides delay, something of which the short man had been sure to drive home before he left the tower earlier.

"...Hmm..." The slightly younger man hummed for a good moment as he thought about the day's goings so far.

-o-

"_Wah!"_

"_Whoa! Watch your step, Gato-San!"_

"_Y-You foul little urchin! You tried to shove me off the cliff!"_

"_No I didn't."_

"_Yes you did, you peasant!"_

"_How could I shove you when you're all the way over there, and I'm over here; by Yume-San. There's a good seven feet between the two of us."_

"_You turned his swords into fish earlier, don't think you can play me for a fool!"_

"_Gato-San...Naruto-San didn't shove you. You tripped."_

"_Silence, Boor! I didn't trip! He shoved me, I know he did!"_

"_Actually, Sir; you tripped over your own feet...Maybe should move away from the edge of the mountain for the rest of the journey..."_

"_I think the heats getting to him, personally."_

"_It is kind of hot...And he is wearing a black suit. Probably not the best kind of attire to be wearing on a hot, summer day like today."_

"_GU-AAH!"_

"_...Did he really just trip again?"_

"_I believe so, Yamcha."_

"_Oi, can anyone tell him to shut up? I was just about to tell Yume-San about my pets!"_

"_My...Life...Is...More important...Than your stupid...PETS!"_

"_...Yeah, see; when someone trips over their own feet-and almost falling off a mountain twice, where both occurrences happen within three minutes of each other; tells me that their life is more important than my pets, that's when I have to not only draw the line; but also inform them about how wrong they are."_

"_B-B-San!"_

"_What?"_

"_Are you seriously going to ignore me and my plight? Do something about this kid before he kills me!"_

"_...No..."_

"_W...What?!"_

"_Not going to."_

"_Why the hell not?!"_

"_...Nope..."_

"_T-That doesn't even make sense!"_

"_Sorry."_

"_No you're not!"_

"_Nope."_

"_See!"_

"_Nope."_

"_...You're screwing with me, aren't you?"_

"_Am I?"_

"_YES! Yes you are!"_

"_Sorry, but I don't swing that way. Kirabi is all about the ladies..."_

"_I'm not gay!"_

"_You're not?"_

"_Yeah, you're not?"_

"_You shut up!"_

"_Make me."_

"_And open myself for another atta-GUFF!-ck!...Ouch..."_

-o-

"Nope...Not that I can think off." The younger of the two men lied.

"God damn it, B."

"You okay, Onii-San?"

"Sometimes I think that you do these sort of things to spite me, B..." A groaned.

"Nope." B countered. "I do these things because I'm an idiot..."

"At least there's at least one thing we can agree on."

-o-

As Gato left the meeting hall, and quickly there after; left the laundromat it had been stationed under; he couldn't help but feel like there was someone-something-watching him.

Flashing his small, beady eyes over his shoulders; the short man quickly headed off down the road toward his hotel. _'Stupid ninja...'_ He griped to himself as he waddled down the road, his cane impacting against the hard packed dirt beneath him; making dull 'clacking' noises with every other footfall. Passing by a group of kids playing a game of what seemed to be 'Eye-Spy', the man let out a long, loud yawn. _'All I want to do is get to the hotel and get some sleep.'_ A lot of energy had been spent earlier that day, a lot more than he had planned on using. His body hurt from the hike and the numerous trips he had along the trip ever since the team he had hired had picked up that insufferable blonde with the odd eyes and the ability to mock him mentally.

Then there was the part with Wamu and his dealings with the Hojo and their pet ninja. Things were going to get a lot more difficult...Especially if the old clan decided to start invading countries.

Still, those were things he could sleep on. Right now, all he wanted was to make it back to his hotel room and fall upon the cool comforters that adorned his bed and go to sleep.

So enraptured by the thought of sleep, Gato failed to spot what many others had failed to spot that day.

Slithering along behind him, jumping from surface to surface; be it along the ground or any other flat, nonliving surface; crept a long, thin shadowy entity.

Having closed his eyes in an effort to try and conserve as much energy as he could; Gato didn't even feel his waistline loosening and his belt quietly being tossed aside, the metal fastening piece landing in an open barrel full of rain water; stifling the jingling of metal as it jerked upon landing. It wasn't until a cool sensation washing over the bottom portion of his body-along side the yell of a small boy yelling out that he could see an old, fat guy's underpants-did he notice some horribly wrong.

Eyes snapping open, Gato looked down at himself, the short, fat CEO soon found himself the victim of a pantsing in the middle of a semi-busy street, full of boys and girls, men and women as well as several Chuunin and Jounin; who, by the looks on their faces; suddenly didn't seem too friendly...All that was reflected in their steps as they walked toward him en mass, was disgust and anger.

"...Oh shit..."

"Get him!"

-o-

Naruto, as well as his shadow for the afternoon-now evening; had stepped out of the shop he had decided to visit earlier in the afternoon and had barely made it onto the main strip of one of the main roads in the village; when the sight of Gato's pantsless form being hauled off down the road by no less than three Chuunin, one Jounin while a little old woman wearing a kimono hobbled after them, trying-and failing-to hit the half naked man with a hard, gnarled walking staff.

"...Why is it that whenever something funny happens, I'm never around to enjoy it?!" Naruto pouted, his lips pursed in a frown so deep that it threatened to swallow his odd colored eyes.

Yugito gave him a look for half a second before looking back at the scene down the road. She wasn't really one for pranks, but she was still human-though several people in her village seemed to take great delight in telling her otherwise-and had she had seen the sight happen from the beginning, she probably would have laughed at it.

As they stared at the spectacle, one in silent amusement and the other in self loathing disbelief; a very faint, fast entity of the color of night, slithered up behind them and jumped for the odd boy.

A shiver ran up his spine as the entity connected with him, causing a pair of dark colored eyes to narrow at him in question.

_'About damn time!'_ Oh how late was he...He had had a very important date...But alas, now; it was far too late. As he questioned his shadow, a smile cracked upon his face, disturbing and cruel as the mental image of the entity picking on Yamcha, the black haired boy from earlier; and choke slamming Yugito into a wall filtered into his mind...

...As well as the image of the shadowy entity pulling Gato's belt off of his body and ripping his pants down around his legs in public.

So full of glee at the exploits of his irritating shadow, he narrowly missed the narrowing pair of dark orbs on his person.

"What was that?"

Whatever glee that had been transferred to him from his shadow, seemed to evaporate instantly as the words of the blonde haired girl who stood next to him reached his ears.

_'Shit...'_ Naruto swore mentally. He hadn't had time to trap the girl into debt yet. Instead, it had happened pretty much the opposite of how he had intended it. _'...Maybe she won't remember about the incident on the mountain before _I_ got there...'_

"Could you please tell me why the spirit that Yamcha and I ran across earlier today just latched onto your back, Naruto-San?"

_'Or mabye she'll remember the entire thing...'_

End Chapter

* * *

Well, here you go...Took me nearly a month to get it done...But then again, I've been working pretty much nonstop since the week of Thanksgiving and finally had some meaningful days off yesterday and today. Also, I know it's short...But I wanted to update the story before next year rolled by.

I'm not too pleased with this chapter, but I think that's because I'm pretty tired-spent the entire day cooking one dish-and the fact that I can't rap worth a nickle. I'm pretty sure that Rebecca Black is better than me when it comes to rapping and the like...And that's pretty sad. Oh well, hopefully you guys and gals aren't too mad.

Along side this, a bunny wearing a troll mask attacked me...And I've got to say, other than the fact that I don't know a lot of the characters and I won't have time to do much research on them for the next month or so; I like what the bunny gave me. In case you are wondering; it's a Naruto/JLU crossover with some twists. Not sure if it's going to be something I'm actually going to do, but I may do a one-shot type deal and slap it in my _Idea Tome_ and leave it there for a while.

I won't be updating before Christmas, that's to be sure. At least not this story. Like I said, the one-shot kind of thing may happen, but other than that; nothing. Maybe after the crazy stuff that is the Holidays has gone by and the like; maybe I'll be able to write a bit better...Maybe.

Until I write again, I wish to say thanks to all who had read and to those who had reviewed.

Ja!


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